Modelling the Apparent von Kármán Parameter in Thermally and Sedimentologically Stratified Air Flows

Abstract

Abstract Through a field experiment on a sandy beach at Pingtan, China, we propose the first model to characterize the variability of apparent von Kármán parameter κa in the thermally and sedimentologically stratified air flows. The model shows that κa is negatively correlated to flux Richardson number as well as sediment transport rate. The atmospheric stability can be either from thermal stratification or sedimentological stratification, neglecting either of them can lead to substantial errors in predicting shear velocity and sediment transport rate.

Keywords

• atmospheric stability
• atmospheric instability
• aeolian transport