Spatial Variability of Turbulence Characteristics in an Urban Roughness Sublayer

We present the results of sonic data analyses from Army Research Laboratory's five meteorological tower measurements during Joint Urban (JU)2003 field campaign. Conducted in Oklahoma City in the summer of 2003, the JU2003 was a cooperative undertaking to study transport and diffusion in the atmospheric boundary layer in an urban environment. This presentation focuses on the spatial variability of turbulence characteristics in an urban roughness sublayer observed in metropolitan area of Oklahoma City. Inter-comparisons of turbulence statistics observed from the five tower locations, as well as between urban and suburban areas demonstrate significant heterogeneity of turbulence characteristics in the urban roughness sublayer. Comparisons between our results and previous documented similar results are also presented. Local scaling and similarity theory appear very difficult to apply to the urban roughness sublayer.