Leveraging Remote Sensing Observations over the Southern Great Plains to Analyze the Effect of Land-Surface Heterogeneity on Dispersive Atmospheric Stresses

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated a connection between thermal heterogeneity at the land surface and secondary atmospheric circulations over the Southern Great Plains (SGP). This relationship has been seen in models, particularly in the analysis of the output of large-eddy simulations (LES). Data from remote sensing instruments in the SGP is used to investigate the extent of the relationship seen in observations. The output of LES simulations is then used to quantify potential uncertainty in measurements from Doppler LiDAR towers within the SGP. A large number of artificial LiDAR networks are generated and applied to the LES output to assess uncertainty from the size of the network and the placement of Doppler LiDAR towers. The correlation between heterogeneity and dispersive terms in the atmosphere is visible and stronger when considering time periods covering the late morning. More analysis is needed regarding the role of the depth of the atmospheric boundary layer in incorporating thermal heterogeneity into the atmosphere, as well as whether the arising atmospheric motions are attributable to secondary circulations. Uncertainty in observations mostly arises from the configuration of LiDAR sites within the SGP, with increasing network size only providing a marginal improvement.