Power Spectra and Diurnal Variation of Low-Level Horizontal Winds Observed by a Wind Profiler Radar Network Over China

Abstract

Understanding the diurnal variation of horizontal wind in the atmospheric boundary layer is important for weather and climate research and wind energy applications. Here we analyze the hourly data from 91 wind profiler radar sites in China and observe that the power spectral density of horizontal wind in lower troposphere approximately follows the −5/3 power law in the mesoscale range over the ocean and coastal areas. However, in inland areas, the slopes of the power spectra are significantly greater than −5/3. We characterize the temporal and spatial variations of maximum wind speed and low level jets and find that the thermal wind effect may partially contribute to the high percentage of low-level jets observed in the southeastern coast of China and Hainan Island. While the ERA5 reanalysis reproduces wind spectrum well for time scales >1 day, its spectrum diverges significantly from that of profiler data at shorter time scales. © 2024 The Authors.