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Abstract Understanding the influence of roughness and terrain slope on stable boundary layer turbulence is challenging. This is investigated using observations collected from October to November of 2018 during the Stable Atmospheric Variability ANd Transport (SAVANT) field campaign conducted in a shallow sloping Midwestern field. We analyze the turbulence velocity scale and its variation with the mean wind speed using observations up to 10–20 m on four meteorological towers located along a shallow gully. The roughness length for momentum over this complex terrain varied with wind direction from 0.0049 m to a maximum of 0.12 m for winds coming through deciduous trees present in the field. The variation of the turbulence velocity with wind speed shows a transition from a weak wind regime to a stronger wind regime, as reported by past studies. This transition is not observed for winds coming from the tree area, where turbulence is enhanced even for weak wind speeds. For weak stratification and stronger winds, the turbulent velocity scale increased with an increase in roughness while the terrain slope is seen to have a weak influence. The sizes of the dominant turbulent eddies seen from the vertical velocity power spectra are observed to be larger for winds coming through the tree area. The turbulence enhancement by the trees is found to be strong within a fetch distance of 7 times the tree height and not observable at 16 times of the tree height. 

Abstract Terrain slopes with and without upslope large surface roughness impact downstream shear‐generated turbulence differently in the nighttime stable boundary layer (SBL). These differences can be identified through variations in the relationship between turbulence and wind speed at a given height, known as the HOckey STick (HOST) transition, as compared to the HOST relationship over flat terrain. The transport of cold surface air from elevated uniform terrain reduces downstream air temperature not much air stratification. As terrain slope rises, the increasing cold and heavy air enhances downstream hydrostatic imbalance, resulting in increasing turbulence for a given wind speed. That is, the rate of turbulence increase with wind speed from downslope flow is independent of terrain slope. Upslope large surface roughness elements enhance vertical turbulent mixing, elevating cold surface air from the terrain. Horizontal transport of this elevated, cold, turbulent air layer reduces the downstream upper warm air temperature. Benefiting from the progressive reduction of downstream stable stratification with increasing height in the SBL, wind shear can effectively generate strong turbulence. In addition to the turbulence enhancement from the cold downslope flow, the rate of turbulence increase with wind speed is elevated. This study demonstrates key physical mechanisms for turbulence generation captured by the HOST relationship. It also highlights the influence of terrain features on these mechanisms through deviations from the HOST relationship over flat terrain. 

Abstract Harvesting of crops in a weakly sloping Midwestern field during the Stable Atmospheric Variability and Transport (SAVANT) observation campaign allowed for a systematic investigation of the influence of surface roughness and static stability magnitude on the applicability of the Monin–Obukhov similarity (MOST) and hockey-stick transition (HOST) theories during stable boundary layer periods. We analyze momentum flux and turbulent velocity scale V TKE in three regimes, defined using the gradient Richardson number Ri and flux Richardson number Ri f as regime 1 (0 < Ri ≤ 0.1 and 0 < Ri f ≤ 0.1), regime 2 (0.1 < Ri ≤ 0.23 and 0.1 < Ri f ≤ 0.23), and regime 3 (both Ri and Ri f > 0.23). After harvest, in regime 1, stability varied from near-neutral to weakly stable and both MOST and HOST were applicable to estimate the momentum fluxes and V TKE as a function of mean wind speed. In regime 2, the momentum flux deviated from the MOST linear relationship as stability increased. In regimes 1 and 2, a HOST-defined threshold wind speed V s was identified beyond which V TKE increased linearly with wind speed at a rate of 0.26 for all observation heights. Below this threshold wind speed, V TKE behaved independent of mean wind and observation heights. Alternatively, for preharvest periods, MOST was applicable in regimes 1 and 2 for all heights and HOST was applicable with reduced V s for heights above the crop layer. Regime 3 during pre- and postharvest consisted of strongly stable periods and very weak to weak winds, where MOST was found to be invalid and V TKE remained low and independent of wind speed. The results suggest that roughness due to crops enhances the turbulence generation at lower wind speeds. 

Abstract Stable boundary layers are still a relatively problematic component of atmospheric modeling, despite their frequent occurrence. While general agreement exists that Monin-Obukhov similarity is not applicable in the stable boundary layer (SBL) due to the non-homogeneous, non-stationary flow, no universal organizing theory for the surface SBL has been presented. The SAVANT (Stable Atmospheric Variability ANd Transport) field campaign took place in the fall of 2018 to explore under what conditions shallow drainage flow is generated. The campaign took place in an agricultural setting and covered the period of both pre- and post-harvest, allowing for not only a basic exploration of the boundary layer but a robust data set for applied agricultural understanding of aerosol dispersion, and impacts of changes in surface cover on drainage flows. This article provides a description of the field campaign. Examples of publicly available data products are presented, as well as examples of shallow drainage flow and corresponding lidar measurements of dispersion. Additionally, the field campaign was used to provide educational opportunities for students from several disciplines and the outcomes of these joint educational ventures are discussed as models for future collaborations. 

We introduce the Online Preference Reporting and Aggregation (OPRA) system, an open-source online system that aims at providing support for group decision-making. We illustrate OPRA's distinctive features: UI for reporting rankings with ties, comprehensive analytics of preferences, and group decision-making in combinatorial domains. We also discuss our work in an automatic mentor matching system. We hope that the open-source nature of OPRA will foster development of computerized group decision support systems.