Mixing and Turbulence

December 6, 2011

This section introduces some elementary concepts associated with mixing and turbulence in
the environment.

1 Conserved Variables
Studies of mixing of different airmasses often approach the problem by considering the conserved
variables associated with each. Thus far we have discussed several of these

1. Conserved under unsaturated adiabatic processes

• θ, hd , w

2. Conserved under saturated adiabatic processes

• θe , hm , Q

Note that ws and χ are not conserved in general, and variables that are conserved under dry pro-
cesses are not conserved under moist processes.
Now suppose that we have two airmasses that meet and mix, without interaction with the
surrounding environment. Such mixing is a fundamental aspect of for example heat transport from
the equator to the poles, or temperature and humidity gradients along fronts, or entrainment of dry
air into clouds. How do we determine the state variables associated with the mixed parcels?
By way of illustration if we take mass fraction f from one air parcel A and mass fraction
(1 − f ) from a second parcel B and there is no saturation during the mixing process then the dry
static energy and mixing ratio associated with the new parcel is

hd = f hdA + (1 − f ) hdB

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 w = f wA + (1 − f ) wB

Since hd = cp T + gz, if one knows the height of the new parcel, one now knows the temperature
and humidity of the new parcel.

2 Adiabatic Mixing without Condensation

We derive here the basic equations dealing with adiabatic mixing without condensation.

Assumptions

• The two parcels with masses m1 and m2 mix adiabatically

• The two parcels are at the same level (d (gz) = 0) (e.g. mixing across a front).
Since the two parcel are at the same level we are mixing only enthalpy and water vapor. Therefore,

m1 h1 + m2 h2 = (m1 + m2 ) h

The change in enthalpy is then

∆H = 0 = m1 (h − h1 ) + m2 (h − h2 )

m1 ∆h1 + m2 ∆h2 = 0

m1 cp (T − T1 ) + m2 cp (T − T2 ) = 0

so the new temperature is

m1 T1 + m2 T2
T =
m1 + m2

Similarly

m1 w1 + m2 w2
w =
m1 + m2

m1 e1 + m2 e2
e =
m1 + m2

m1 θ1 + m2 θ2
θ =
m1 + m2

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Example
Two parcels of air mix thoroughly across a cold front at 1000 mb. Parcel one has a temperature of
23.8 C and w = 16 g/kg, and parcel two has a temperature of T = 12.4 C and a mixing ratio of 5
g/kg.

1. If both parcels of air mix equally, what is the final temperature and mixing ratio of the
combined air masses?
Since the parcels mix equally, the new temperature and mixing ratio is simply the average
temperature and mixing ratio, which are 18.1 and 10.5 g/kg.

2. What is the initial RH of each parcel and final RH?

It works out that
es (23.8°) = 29.5 mb

es (12.4°) = 14.4 mb

es (18.1°) = 20.7 mb

and that the saturated mixing ratio is

es
ws = 0.622
p
ws (23.8°) = 0.0183

ws (12.4°) = 0.009

ws (18.1°) = 0.0129

So the relative humidities are

RH (23.8°) = 87%

RH (12.4°) = 56%

RH (18.1°) = 82%

So unlike T and w, RH does not mix linearly! This is an important consideration since it leads to
the observation that two subsaturated parcels of air can combine to produce a cloud

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Figure 1: Two subsaturated parcels combining to produce a saturated parcel. Note that both e and
T mix linearly, but that clearly RH does not.

A most striking example of this sort of this is when a cold dry air mass moves over a warm
moist air or surface to produce sea-smoke.

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 Figure 2: Sea-smoke

Another example is when warm moist exhaust from an airplane mixes with cold dry air to
produce a contrail.

3 Turbulence
“Big whorls have little whorls, which feed on their velocity, and little whorls have
lesser whorls, and so on to viscosity.” - Lewis Richardson

3.1 Characteristics

Examples of Turbulence
• Cumulus clouds

• Jet streams

• Dust storms

Characteristics
• irregularity

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 • diffusivity - no spreading no turbulence

• vorticity

• dissipative due to viscous losses (waves are non-dissipative although they can be dispersive)

• characteristic of fluid flows

• Associated with large values of the Reynolds number Re where Re = uL/ν, where L is the
characteristic length scale of an object moving with speed u through a viscous medium with
kinematic viscosity ν.

Sources
• shear in a mean flow

• buoyancy

The transition from laminar to turbulent flow is one of the more poorly understood aspects of
physics.

3.2 Length Scales in Turbulent Flows

Turbulent flows have a wide range of length scales covering many orders of magnitude in size
ranging from the dimensions of the flow itself at the high end, to the length scale associated with
the diffusive action of molecular viscosity at the low end.

3.2.1 The Reynolds Number

What are the relevant scales for laminar, low-shear flow? The Navier-Stokes equations for steady
flow are
du 1 dp ∂ 2u
u =− +ν 2
dx ρ dx ∂x
The first term is inertia, the second the pressure gradient force, and the third term the viscous term,
ν = 0.15cm2 s−1 , which generates turbulence. For turbulence to matter the viscous and inertia
terms have to be of the same magnitude. Is this the case? Doing scale analysis we would require

U2 νU
∼ 2
L L

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Dividing the first term by the second we find that

UL
∼ Re ∼ 1
ν

But Reynolds numbers typical of the atmosphere are typically on the order of a few thousand, so
the atmosphere tends to be turbulent.
In clouds the source of energy is mostly latent heat release, and this creates turbulent motions
while sending air upwards. With respect to the turbulence, it is common to talk about an energy
dissipation rate  with units of energy per mass per second (m2 /s3 ). It represents the rate at which
energy is transfered from large-scale motion to small scales. Eddies start big and then become
progressively smaller.
But how small before the flows become laminar because viscosity takes over? Combining the
rate at which the smallest scales receive energy with the viscosity, using dimensional relationships
we can derive length, time, and velocity scales for the smallest scales as follows
 1/4
η = ν 3 /

τ = (ν/)1/2

v = (ν)1/4

These are called the Komolgorov microscales of length, time, and velocity. The corresponding
Reynolds number formed with these numbers is equal to one

ηv/ν = 1

which illustrates that the small-scale motion is highly viscous, and that the viscous dissipation of
turbulence as heat adjusts itself to the energy supply  by adjusting length scales η.
Can we estimate what the supply rate of energy  is to small scales? Well the energy comes
from large scale turbulence. This energy is proportional to u2 . It seems appropriate to assume
that the time scale T associated with dissipation of the energy is then u/l which is roughly one
overturning of the eddy. Therefore the rate of energy dissipation is of order u2 /T = u2 · u/l.

 ∼ u3 /l

Example
Estimate the energy dissipation rate in a cumulus cloud, both per unit mass and for the entire cloud.
Base your estimates on velocity and length scales typical of cumulus clouds. Compute the total

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dissipation rate in kilowatts. Also estimate the Kolmogorov microscale η. Use ρ = 1.25 kg/m3
and ν = 15 × 10−6 m2 /s.

Figure 3: A cumulus cloud

We can estimate the dissipation rate using

 ∼ u3 /l

In a cumulus cloud a typical turret (arguably the length scale of the largest eddies) is about 250
m. The updraft velocity is about 1 m/s. This gives values of  ∼ 4 × 10−3 m2 /s3 for the energy
dissipation rate per unit mass. The energy dissipation rate of the entire cloud, assuming fairly
suitable dimensions of 1 km3 and ρ = 1.25 kg/m3 is

m ×  = 4 × 10−3 × 1.25 × 1 × 109 = 5 × 106 J s−1 = 5000KW

(How does this compare to energy production associated with latent heat release during ascent?).
The Kolmogorov microscale is

3 !1/4
 1/4 (15 × 10−6 )
η = ν 3 / = = 1 × 10−3 = 1 mm
4 × 10−3

So energy gets converted to heat in cloud at spatial scales on the order of 1 mm. Pretty small!

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 Typical values of  range from 10−4 to 10−2 m2 /s3 in convective clouds to 10−5 to 10−4 m2 /s3
in stratiform clouds.

References
Tennekes, H. and Lumley, J. L., A First Course in Turbulence, MIT Press, 1972, pp 300.
Seinfeld, J. H., and Pandis, S. N. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Wiley Interscience, pp 1326.