• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.591-600
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• 2015

We have analyzed wind and eddy covariance data collected within roughness sublayer over sloping terrain. The study site is located on non-flat terrain with slopes in both south-north and east-west directions. The surface elevation change is smaller than the height of roughness element such as building and tree. This study examines the directional wind shear for data collected at three levels in the lowest 10 m in the roughness sublayer. The wind direction shear is caused by drag of roughness element and terrain-induced motions at this site. Small directional shear occurs when wind speed at 10 m is strong and wind direction at 10 m is southerly which is the same direction as upslope flow near surface at this site during daytime. Correlation between vertical shear of lateral momentum and lateral momentum flux is smaller over steeply sloped surface compared to mildly sloped surface and lateral momentum flux is not down-gradient over steeply sloped surface. Quadrant analysis shows that the relative contribution of four quadrants to momentum flux depends on both surface slope and wind direction shear.

• Atmosphere
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.473-482
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• 2016

An accurate determination of turbulent fluxes over an urban area is a challenging task due to its morphological diversity and associated flow complexity. In this study, an eddy covariance (EC) method is applied over a highly heterogeneous urban area in a small city (Gongju), South Korea to investigate the quantitative influence of 'coordinate tilt' in determining the turbulent fluxes of sensible heat, latent heat, momentum, and carbon dioxide mass. Two widely-used coordinate transform methods are adopted and applied to eight directional sections centered on the site to analyze a 1-year period EC measurement obtained from the urban site: double rotation (DR) and planar fit (PF) transform. The results show that mean streamline planes determined by the PF method are distinguished from the sections, representing morphological heterogeneity of the site. The sectional pitch angles determined by the DR method also compare well with those in the PF method. Both the PF and DR methods show large variabilities in the determined streamline planes at each directional section, implying that flow patterns may form in a complicate way due to the surface heterogeneity. Resulting relative differences of the turbulent fluxes, defined by $(F_{DR}-F_{PF})/F_{DR}$, are found on average +13% in sensible heat flux, +21% in latent heat flux, +37% in momentum flux, and +26% in carbon dioxide mass flux, which are larger values than those reported previously for fairly homogeneous natural sites. The fractional differences depend significantly on wind direction, showing larger differences in northerly winds at the measurement site. It is also found that the relative fractional differences are negatively correlated with the mean wind speed at both stable/unstable atmospheric conditions. These results imply that EC turbulent fluxes determined over heterogeneous urban areas should be carefully interpreted with considering the uncertainty due to 'coordinate tilt' effect in their applications.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.1051-1061
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• 2007

The impact of midlatitude synoptic system (upper-level trough) on typhoon intensity change was investigated by analyzing the spatial and temporal characteristics of vertical wind shear (VWS), relative eddy momentum flux convergence (REFC), and potential vorticity (PV). These variables were computed over the radial mean $300{\sim}1,000km$ from the typhoon center by using GDAPS (Global Data Assimilation and Prediction System) data provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The selected cases in this study are typhoons Rusa (0215) and Maemi (0314), causing much damage in life and property in Korea. Results show that the threshold value of VWS indicating typhoon intensity change (typhoon to severe tropical storm) is approximately 15 m/s and of REFC ranges 6 to 6.5 $ms^{-1}day^{-1}$ in both cases, respectively. During the period with the intensity of typhoon class, PVs with 3 to 3.5 PVU are present in 360K surface-PV field in the cases. In addition, there is a time-lag of 24 hours between central pressure of typhoon and minimum value of VWS, meaning that the midlatitude upper-level trough interacts with the edge of typhoon with a horizontal distance less than 2,000 km between trough and typhoon. That is, strong midlatitude upper-level divergence above the edge of the typhoon provides a good condition for strengthening the vertical circulation associated with the typhoons. In particular, when the distance between typhoon and midlatitude upper-level trough is less than 1,000 km, the typhoons tend to weaken to STS (Severe Tropical Storm). It might be mentioned that midlatitude synoptic system affects the intensity change of typhoons Rusa (0215) and Maemi (0314) while they moves northward. Thus, these variables are useful for diagnosing the intensity change of typhoon approaching to the Korean peninsula.