Characteristics of surface layer turbulence in coastal area of Qatar

A characterization of the atmospheric surface layer in coastal region of Qatar is presented in the present paper. The micrometeorological data is collected in the New Doha International Airport (25.25N, 51.62E), at a pier 500 m into the ocean by deploying tower based instruments during the month of June-2011. The normalized variance of the three components of velocity and temperature are studied within the framework of Monin–Obukhov similarity theory. The normalized variances of stream wise and transverse velocity at near-neutral condition are found to be consistent with the reported values from measurement sites around the world, but the normalized variance of vertical velocity at near-neutral condition is found to be consistently lower in the present case. The dependency of the normalized velocity variances with buoyancy parameter indicates a higher growth rate of variances, compared to other investigations. The non-dimensional variance of temperature matches well with the past investigations, but the correlation between vertical velocity and temperature indicates higher magnitude for the present location.