oa Turbulent characteristics of atmospheric surface layer in Qatar

Wind power is one of the world's fastest growing renewable energy sources. Design and performance of wind turbines greatly depend on the atmospheric turbulence on the plant site. Furthermore, turbulent characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer are of utmost importance in modeling the large-scale meteorological processes, diffusion of atmospheric contaminants, heat transfer and evaporation off of the earth's surface. Meteorological data are available for some areas of the globe but are sparse in tropical regions. There had been some recent studies in tropical weather in southwestern Asia but no data is available for the Gulf region. The present study for the first time reports the micrometeorological data collected from an atmospheric measurement station in the coastal region of Doha, Qatar, to characterize the nature of atmosphere surface layer (ASL) and ocean wave in this region. In the present work, turbulence velocity spectra and stability in Qatar is presented and compared with the available data from other locations. Also, empirical relationship for the normalized dissipation function in this region is suggested. Finally, variation of different length scales with the stability parameter z/L is investigated and compare with the existing values in available literatures. This is the first ever study of ASL in this area, and is expected to be a foundation of further atmospheric research endeavors in Qatar.