Prof. Dan LI

Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University

10am, July 3, 2017

Room 319, Building 40, IAP

The importance of surface-atmosphere interaction (e.g., land-atmosphere interaction and air-sea interaction) is rarely disputed. However, our understanding of these interacting processes remains to be advanced. In this presentation, I will talk about surface-atmosphere interaction from the perspective of fluid mechanics. In particular, I will focus on two important concepts: the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory and the roughness length, which are the foundation for nearly all parameterizations of surface-atmosphere interaction in numerical models. The universality of Monin-Obukhov similarity functions and the scaling of thermal roughness length with respect to the Reynolds number will be discussed.