A Systematic Investigation of the Applicability of Taylor’s Hypothesis in an Idealized Surface Layer

Abstract

Taylor’s Frozen Turbulence Hypothesis (TH) is a critical assumption in turbulent theory and practice which allows time series of point measurements of turbulent variables to be translated to the spatial domain via the mean wind. Using a 3D array of fibre-optic distributed temperature sensing in the atmospheric surface layer over an idealized desert site we present a systematic investigation of the applicability of Taylor’s Hypothesis to atmospheric surface layer flows over a variety of conditions: unstable, near-neutral, and stable atmospheric stabilities; and multiple measurement heights between the surface and 3 m above ground level. Both spatially integrated and spatially scale-dependent eddy velocities are investigated by means of time-lagged streamwise two-point correlations and compared to the mean Eulerian wind. We find that eddies travel slower than predicted by TH at small spatial separations, as predicted by TH at separations typically between 5 and 16 m, and faster than predicted by TH at larger spatial separations. In unstable atmospheric conditions the spatial separation at which eddy velocity is larger than Eulerian velocity decreases with height.