Project CONDORS (CONvective Diffusion Observed by Remote Sensors) measured the dispersion of a nonbuoyant plume in the highly convective boundary layer. The experiment centered around the 300 m instrumented tower of the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory. The parameters in convective scaling theory were determined, and extensive information on wind statistics was gathered. Mixed layer height was found by a consensus of determinations from the vertical extent of remotely sensed tracers, from on site radiosonde profiles, and from lidar observed gradients of the haze. During the first phase in late summer of 1982, oil fog and chaff were released separately from the tower, and two conservative gas tracers were also sampled on a single arc at the surface. The use of multiple tracers permitted an evaluation of their performance. Careful processing of the remotely sensed trancer data successfully removed interfering effects, such as attenuation of the lidar radiation and ground clutter in the radar signal. Although these tracers were not conserved, valid profile shapes were obtained, and local downwind flux of measured concentrations was successfully applied in place of the release rate. However, any interpretation of the chaff data must consider the effect of gravitational settling. The three types of tracers complemented one another in revealing the dispersive behaviour of plumes in convective conditions.
CITATION STYLE
Eberhard, W. L., Moninger, W. R., & Briggs, G. A. (1988). Plume dispersion in the convective boundary layer. Part I: CONDORS field experiment and example measurements. J. APPL. METEOROL., 27(5, May 1988), 599–616. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1988)027<0599:pditcb>2.0.co;2
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