A statistical-mechanical approach to study the hydrodynamic stability of stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer

Guillaume Nevo (1, 2) , Nikki Vercauteren (3) , Amandine Kaiser (3) , Bérengère Dubrulle (2) , Davide Faranda (4)

1 ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris
2 SPHYNX - Systèmes Physiques Hors-équilibre, hYdrodynamique, éNergie et compleXes
3 Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
4 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]

We study the hydrodynamic equilibrium properties of the stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer from measurements obtained in the Snow-Horizontal Array Turbulence Study (SnoHATS) campaign at the Plaine Morte Glacier in the Swiss Alps. Our approach is based on a combination of dynamical systems techniques and statistical analysis. The main idea is to measure the deviations from the behavior expected by a turbulent observable when it is close to a transition between different metastable states. We first assess the performance of our method on the Lorenz attractor, then on a turbulent flow. The results show that the method recognizes subtle differences among different stable boundary layers turbulence regimes and may be used to help characterise their transitions.

Domaines: Physique Atmosphérique et Océanique [physics.ao-ph]; Océan, Atmosphère

Guillaume Nevo, Nikki Vercauteren, Amandine Kaiser, Bérengère Dubrulle, Davide Faranda. A statistical-mechanical approach to study the hydrodynamic stability of stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer. 2016. ⟨hal-01413073v1⟩