Search from over 60,000 research works

Advanced Search

Wind observations above an urban river using a new lidar technique, scintillometry and anemometry

[thumbnail of Wood_etal_2012_STOTEN.pdf]
Preview
Wood_etal_2012_STOTEN.pdf - Accepted Version (1MB) | Preview
Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email

Wood, C. R., Pauscher, L., Ward, H. C., Kotthaus, S., Barlow, J., Gouvea, M., Lane, S. E. and Grimmond, C. S. B. orcid id iconORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3166-9415 (2013) Wind observations above an urban river using a new lidar technique, scintillometry and anemometry. Science of the Total Environment, 442. pp. 527-533. ISSN 0048-9697 doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.10.061

Abstract/Summary

Flow along rivers, an integral part of many cities, might provide a key mechanism for ventilation – which is important for air quality and heat stress. Since the flow varies in space and time around rivers, there is limited utility in point measurements. Ground-based remote sensing offers the opportunity to study 3D flow in locations which are hard to observe. For three months in the winter and spring of 2011, the atmospheric flow above the River Thames in central London was observed using a scanning Doppler lidar, a dual-beam scintillometer and sonic anemometry. First, an inter-comparison showed that lidar-derived mean wind-speed estimates compare almost as well to sonic anemometers (root-mean-square error (rmse) 0.65–0.68 m s–1) as comparisons between sonic anemometers (0.35–0.73 m s–1). Second, the lidar duo-beam scanning strategy provided horizontal transects of wind vectors comparison with scintillometer rmse 1.12–1.63 m s–1) which revealed mean and turbulent flow across the river and surrounds; in particular: chanelling flow along the river and turbulence changes consistent with the roughness changes between built to river environments. The results have important consequences for air quality and dispersion around urban rivers, especially given that many cities have high traffic rates on bankside roads.

Altmetric Badge

Item Type Article
URI https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/28978
Item Type Article
Refereed Yes
Divisions Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Uncontrolled Keywords Scanning Doppler lidar; roughness sub-layer; instrument comparison; urban climate; micro-meteorology; sonic anemometry
Publisher Elsevier
Download/View statistics View download statistics for this item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

University Staff: Request a correction | Centaur Editors: Update this record

Search Google Scholar