Turbulence and Coherent Organizations in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer: A Radar-Aircraft Experimental Approach

The scientific objective of the TRAC experiment (Turbulence Radar Aircraft Cells) was to investigate the respective roles played by small-scale turbulence and coherent structures in the vertical transfer within the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Field research held in June 1993 in France was based on coupled aircraft and Doppler radar measurements. The results discussed here are mainly focused on the evaluation of the performance of the radar in the 3D description of the clear air ABL, which was the technical goal of TRAC. During the experiment, the radar was able to provide continuous and coherent echo fields over a range of several tens of kilometres, extending up to about 3 km. Good agreement was obtained in the ABL between the radar-derived turbulent quantities and airborne measurements. As depicted by the reflectivity fields, coherent organizations were found to be a common feature of the eleven ABL cases analyzed. These organizations evolved during the day between a banded structure and a cellular pattern. A very weak correlation was found between the reflectivity field and the atmospheric parameters measured by the aircraft. However, in terms of characteristic scale, the reflectivity field appeared to be strongly related to the water vapour field. The inhomogeneity induced by the coherent circulations questions the representativity of one-dimensional sampling of these 3D fields and suggests the need to adapt the traditional statistical approach of the ABL.