Abstract:

This dataset contains the output of a multiple scale simulation of coastal fog during LASER along with an accompanying run without fog. It features a hindcasting large eddy simulation at a horizontal resolution of 111.11 m. It allows us to examine the impact of fog on the structure of large turbulent eddy circulations and the associated turbulent transport in the atmospheric boundary layer along the coast of Gulf of Mexico.

Suggested Citation:

Ping Zhu. 2018. Large Eddy Simulations of Coastal Fog during LASER. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N72R3Q47

Purpose:

Coastal fog not only can create road transport and aviation safety problems, but also exerts an indirect impact on environment via interacting with air pollutants and modifying air temperature and evaporation. Fog drips can enhance soil microbial activity and plant growth and play an important role in the dispersal of bacteria and fungi, thus, coastal marine fog could result in a cascade of ecological effects on coastal ecosystems including local terrestrial, riparian, and intertidal habitats. Since the longwave radiative cooling and evaporative cooling at the top of fog are an important source of turbulence generation, fog is expected to have a direct bearing on the turbulent transport at the air-sea/air-land interface, and thus, affect the advection of substance such as oil spill fumes at the ocean surface and aerial pollution transport in the atmospheric boundary layer. It could further have climatic, environmental, and ecological implications if substantial change in coastal fog would occur in a changing climate. This motivates us to simulate coastal fog. The simulated data can be used to investigate to what extent that fog can affect the exchange of momentum, heat, and moisture at the interface between the atmosphere and the underlying surface.

Data Parameters and Units:

Dataset includes two main directories: fog_run and nofog_run. Each directory contains four subdirectories named wrfout_d0{1-4}, where d refers to four different domains. Domain d01 is the parent domain that has a horizontal grid-spacing of 2.7km. d02 is nested in d01 and has a resolution of 900 m; d03 is nested in d02 and has a resolution of 300 m; and d04 nested in d03 and has a resolution of 100 m. All 4 domains have the same vertical resolution, i.e., 78 levels in the vertical. Latitude (decimal degrees), Longitude (decimal degrees), 3 dimensional winds (u, v, w; m/s), potential temperature (K), pressure (Pa), water vapor mixing ratio (kg/kg), liquid water mixing ratio (kg/kg), surface turbulent heat fluxes (W/m2), friction velocity (m/s), radiation fluxes (W/m2), and many other meteorological variables

Individual Files: