Characteristics of vertical velocity fluctuations in a convective urban boundary layer ( Toronto Canada).

Abstract

Vertical air motions within the convective boundary layer over Toronto, Canada, have been observed using a monostatic Doppler echosonde. Data were acquired on cloudless days with strong insolation and light winds, when turbulence dynamics were dominated by buoyancy. Minimum urban fetch was 7.5 times the boundary-layer depth. Nondimensional mean vertical profiles of vertical velocity variance, and of its vertical turbulent transport, of the dissipation rate of turbulence kinetic energy, and of the spectrum of vertical velocity were computed. -from Authors