Numerical Studies of Meteor Crater Cold Pool Responses to Realistic Dynamical and Radiative Forcing and Comparisons with METCRAX Measurements

2006年10月在亚利桑那州的陨石坑进行了陨石坑实验（METCRAX），因为那里经常出现稳定的冷池，伴随着良性的边界层流动。METCRAX研究的动机是更好地理解影响冷池形成、演化和破裂的动力学和辐射过程。小的空间尺度，使广泛的仪器和量化的一些非常有趣的冷池的反应，包括强迫的平均和可变的外部边界层流，强迫辐射加热和冷却，不稳定和混合，以及假潮的反应在不同时期。METCRAX数据分析和数值研究导致了一些重要的见解冷池动力学的日期。这项新的研究将扩大迄今为止进行的数值研究，通过应用程序1）更复杂和现实的边界层流动，2）现实的边界层分层剖面，3）真实的，而不是理想化的轴对称，火山口地形，4）冷池流动的辐射强迫，和5）具体的模拟，并比较，METCRAX观测的假潮，不稳定性和混合，和辐射强迫流。这些努力将采用高分辨率谱元（SE）数值模拟代码。智力优势：这一额外的METCRAX研究将有助于更多的定量理解1）动力和辐射强迫的多样性的反应，2）占主导地位的机制侵蚀冷池分层，3）在何种程度上真实的冷池流不同于理想化的描述，以及4）是否高分辨率模拟是必不可少的描述这种影响。研究结果对于了解更一般流域的冷池动力学也很有价值，因此对更广泛的研究界也很有价值。对冷池动力学的更全面的了解，包括它们的形成和分解，在边界层研究界之外是高度相关的，对NWP很重要，对许多位于盆地或山谷中的城市来说，经历了持续的冷池分层，捕获了排放物和颗粒物，导致严重的污染事件和健康危害，并可能影响企业，学校，当地政府，发电和交通。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The Meteor Crater Experiment (METCRAX) was performed in Arizona's Meteor Crater in October 2006 because of the frequent occurrence there of stable cold pools accompanied by benign boundary layer flows. Motivations for the METCRAX studies were a better understanding of the dynamical and radiative processes influencing cold pool formation, evolution, and breakup. The small spatial scale enabled extensive instrumentation and quantification of a number of very interesting cold pool responses, including forcing by mean and variable external boundary layer flows, forcing by radiative heating and cooling, instability and mixing, and seiche responses at various periods. METCRAX data analyses and numerical studies led to a number of important insights into cold pool dynamics to date. This new research will expand on the numerical studies performed to date through applications to 1) more complex and realistic boundary layer flows, 2) realistic boundary layer stratification profiles, 3) real, rather than idealized axisymmetric, crater terrain, 4) cold pool flows that are radiatively forced, and 5) specific simulations of, and comparisons to, METCRAX observations of seiches, instability and mixing, and radiatively-forced flows. These efforts will employ a high-resolution spectral element (SE) numerical simulation code. Intellectual Merit: This additional METCRAX research will contribute a much more quantitative understanding of 1) the diversity of responses to dynamical and radiative forcing, 2) the dominant mechanisms accounting for erosion of cold pool stratification, 3) the extent to which real cold pool flows differ from idealized descriptions, and 4) whether high-resolution modeling is essential to describing such effects. Results will also be valuable in understanding cold pool dynamics in more general basins, and thus to a broader research community.Broader Impacts: A more complete understanding of cold pool dynamics, including their formation and breakup, is highly relevant outside the boundary layer research community, important to NWP, and to many cities located in basins or valleys experiencing persistent cold pool stratification that traps emissions and particulates, causes significant pollution episodes and health hazards, and may impact businesses, schools, local government, power generation, and transportation.