An Experimental Study of the Field Variation of the Eddy Conductivity

Abstract

By means of thermistors the temperature field is measured in cold air from the sea entering a strongly heated arid surface. The temperature at 1 m level at first increases and then decreases when the air moves further inland. From these measurements the field of the coefficients of eddy conductivity is calculated. The result shows that the eddy conductivity not only increases upwards but also in the horizontal direction being 3–4 times larger half a km from the shoreline than at the sea. In the Appendix a formula is deduced for determining the coefficient of eddy conductivity. In doing this the definition of A_z is somewhat modified considering the fact that the scales of temperature and potential temperature may differ, the difference depending upon the reference pressure of the potential temperature. The error of neglecting the effect of the reference pressure of the potential temperature in the definition of Az is discussed.