1. Evaluation of Atmospheric Temperature Profiling off a Building Side in the Early Morning Hours
Ryan Brown
Department of Marine and Environmental Systems
Florida Institute of Technology
Melbourne, Florida 32901
July 20, 2005

2. Temperature Profiling
Why are we doing this?
How the data was collected
Results
Conclusions

3. Why are we Doing This? To locate the Nocturnal Boundary Layer (NBL)
To obtain a low level temperature profile

4. What is the NBL?
AMS def.- The cool layer of air adjacent to the ground that forms at night.
Forms from radiative cooling and surface friction
Can extend for a few hundred meters
Interacting processes can occur within the stable NBL
Patchy sporadic turbulence
Internal gravity waves
Drainage flows
Inertial oscillations
Nocturnal jets

5. What is a Sounding Profile?
A temperature analysis of the atmosphere above one particular spot on the surface
A measures the atmospheric and dew point temperatures

6. Measuring the Temperature

7. Height
Depth
22.5 m
2.5 m
20 m
5 m
15 m
10 m
10 m
15 m
5 m
20 m
2.5 m
22.5 m

8. Measuring the Temperature

9. Measuring the Temperature
A temperature probe was lowered from the top of the building to the bottom
Connected to a laptop on the ground
Two types of runs
Slow, with 1 minute at each depth
Fast, from top to bottom without stopping

10. Measuring the Temperature
June 8
4 total runs
3 slow
1 fast
June 9
8 total runs
2 slow
6 fast
Simulations
Fast Runs
What the profile should be without lag
Equation based on Newtonian cooling
ΔT= Lapse Rate * Velocity * Time + Tempo

11. A Glance at Real Time Data
Temperature fluctuates ±.035 degrees per second
Beginning of Run
End of Run
Bottom of Building

12. Temperature Graph From the Morning of June 8

13. The Fast Run of June 8 Fast Run Occurred from 0715 to 0723
Increasing Temp. the whole time

14. A Look at the Fast Run Without Lag

15. Temperature Graph from the Morning of June 9

16. Fast runs for the morning of June 9

17. Taking a Closer Look at Fast Run 2

18. A Look at Run 2 Without Lag

19. Conclusions Temperature Inversion
The Crawford building was underneath the NBL
The Summer months in FL is not the best time to Search for the NBL due to little radiative cooling
NBL is not shallow

20. Acknowledgements All Field Project Researchers Mike Splitt
Pearl Program for Simulations

21. Questions?
Arlena Moses