Joost A. Businger

Bio: Joost A. Businger is an academic researcher from University of Washington. The author has contributed to research in topics: Boundary layer & Planetary boundary layer. The author has an hindex of 31, co-authored 56 publications receiving 7503 citations. Previous affiliations of Joost A. Businger include National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Flux-Profile Relationships in the Atmospheric Surface Layer

Abstract: Wind and temperature profiles for a wide range of stability conditions have been analyzed in the context of Monin-Obukhov similarity theory. Direct measurements of heat and momentum fluxes enabled determination of the Obukhov length L, a key independent variable in the steady-state, horizontally homogeneous, atmospheric surface layer. The free constants in several interpolation formulas can be adjusted to give excellent fits to the wind and temperature gradient data. The behavior of the gradients under neutral conditions is unusual, however, and indicates that von Karman's constant is ∼0.35, rather than 0.40 as usually assumed, and that the ratio of eddy diffusivities for heat and momentum at neutrality is ∼1.35, compared to the often-suggested value of 1.0. The gradient Richardson number, computed from the profiles, and the Obukhov stability parameter z/L, computed from the measured fluxes, are found to be related approximately linearly under unstable conditions. For stable conditions the Richar...

Bulk Parameterization of Air-Sea Exchanges of Heat and Water Vapor Including the Molecular Constraints at the Interface

Abstract: A model is developed for the marine atmospheric surface layer including the interfacial sublayers on both sides of the air-sea interface where molecular constraints on transports are important. Flux-profile relations which are based on the postulation of intermittent renewal of the surface fluid aye matched to the logarithmic profiles and compared with both field and laboratory measurements. These relations enable numerical determination of air-sea exchanges of momentum, heat and water vapor (or bulk transfer coefficients) employing the bulk parameters of mean wind speed, temperature and humidity at a certain height in the atmospheric surface layer, and the water temperature. With increasing wind speed, the flow goes from smooth to rough and the bulk transfer coefficient for momentum also increases. The increase in roughness is associated with increasing wave height which in the present model results in sheltering at the wave troughs. Due to the decrease in turbulent transports, the transfer coef...

Evaluation of the Accuracy with Which Dry Deposition Can Be Measured with Current Micrometeorological Techniques.

Abstract: By reviewing the physics of the processes leading to dry deposition in the atmospheric surface layer, a number of corrections and possible errors in the determination of the dry deposition fluxes are identified. The concept of deposition velocity is examined, its usefulness discussed, and some pitfalls are pointed out. An overview is given of the various micrometeorological methods with which dry deposition can be determined and some of their limitations are indicated. With this background a number of recent publications on dry deposition have been analyzed. It is apparent that in most cases a more complete documentation is needed of the structure of the surface layer and the adjacent planetary boundary layer. Errors related to advection and entrainment are especially difficult or impossible to assess because of inadequate information about the surroundings and the height of the boundary layer.

Flux measurement with conditional sampling

Abstract: A method is proposed to measure scalar fluxes using conditional sampling. Only the mean concentrations of updraft and downdraft samples, the standard deviation of the vertical velocity, and a coefficient of proportionality, b, need to be known. The method has been simulated from existing time series of the vertical wind component, temperature, and humidity in the surface layer. It is found that b has an almost constant value of 0.6 for both scalars and over a wide stability range. This result encourages application to other scalars and suggests that the method may be used beyond the atmospheric surface layer in the lower part of the planetary boundary layer.

An Introduction to Atmospheric Physics

Abstract: Preface to Second Edition. Preface to First Edition. Gravitational Effects. Properties of Atmospheric Gases. Properties and Behavior of Cloud Particles. Atmospheric Motionas. Solar and Terrestrial Radiation. Transfer Processes. Atmospheric Signal Phenomena. Appendix I: Mathematical Topics. Appendix II: Physical Topics. Bibliograpy. Index.

Crop evapotranspiration : guidelines for computing crop water requirements

Abstract: (First edition: 1998, this reprint: 2004). This publication presents an updated procedure for calculating reference and crop evapotranspiration from meteorological data and crop coefficients. The procedure, first presented in FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 24, Crop water requirements, in 1977, allows estimation of the amount of water used by a crop, taking into account the effect of the climate and the crop characteristics. The publication incorporates advances in research and more accurate procedures for determining crop water use as recommended by a panel of high-level experts organised by FAO in May 1990. The first part of the guidelines includes procedures for determining reference crop evapotranspiration according to the FAO Penman-Monteith method. These are followed by updated procedures for estimating the evapotranspiration of different crops for different growth stages and ecological conditions.

Development of a turbulence closure model for geophysical fluid problems

Abstract: Applications of second-moment turbulent closure hypotheses to geophysical fluid problems have developed rapidly since 1973, when genuine predictive skill in coping with the effects of stratification was demonstrated. The purpose here is to synthesize and organize material that has appeared in a number of articles and add new useful material so that a complete (and improved) description of a turbulence model from conception to application is condensed in a single article. It is hoped that this will be a useful reference to users of the model for application to either atmospheric or oceanic boundary layers.

Correction of flux measurements for density effects due to heat and water vapour transfer

Abstract: When the atmospheric turbulent flux of a minor constituent such as CO2 (or of water vapour as a special case) is measured by either the eddy covariance or the mean gradient technique, account may need to be taken of variations of the constituent's density due to the presence of a flux of heat and/or water vapour. In this paper the basic relationships are discussed in the context of vertical transfer in the lower atmosphere, and the required corrections to the measured flux are derived. If the measurement involves sensing of the fluctuations or mean gradient of the constituent's mixing ratio relative to the dry air component, then no correction is required; while with sensing of the constituent's specific mass content relative to the total moist air, a correction arising from the water vapour flux only is required. Correspondingly, if in mean gradient measurements the constituent's density is measured in air from different heights which has been pre-dried and brought to a common temperature, then again no correction is required; while if the original (moist) air itself is brought to a common temperature, then only a correction arising from the water vapour flux is required. If the constituent's density fluctuations or mean gradients are measured directly in the air in situ, then corrections arising from both heat and water vapour fluxes are required. These corrections will often be very important. That due to the heat flux is about five times as great as that due to an equal latent heat (water vapour) flux. In CO2 flux measurements the magnitude of the correction will commonly exceed that of the flux itself. The correction to measurements of water vapour flux will often be only a few per cent but will sometimes exceed 10 per cent.

Numerical study of convection observed during the Winter Monsoon Experiment using a mesoscale two-dimensional model [presentation]

Abstract: Abstract A two-dimensional version of the Pennsylvania State University mesoscale model has been applied to Winter Monsoon Experiment data in order to simulate the diurnally occurring convection observed over the South China Sea. The domain includes a representation of part of Borneo as well as the sea so that the model can simulate the initiation of convection. Also included in the model are parameterizations of mesoscale ice phase and moisture processes and longwave and shortwave radiation with a diurnal cycle. This allows use of the model to test the relative importance of various heating mechanisms to the stratiform cloud deck, which typically occupies several hundred kilometers of the domain. Frank and Cohen's cumulus parameterization scheme is employed to represent vital unresolved vertical transports in the convective area. The major conclusions are: Ice phase processes are important in determining the level of maximum large-scale heating and vertical motion because there is a strong anvil componen...