Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
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- All Subjects: Environmental engineering
- Creators: Vivoni, Enrique R
Description
Rapid urban expansion and the associated landscape modifications have led to significant changes of surface processes in built environments. These changes further interact with the overlying atmospheric boundary layer and strongly modulate urban microclimate. To capture the impacts of urban land surface processes on urban boundary layer dynamics, a coupled urban land-atmospheric modeling framework has been developed. The urban land surface is parameterized by an advanced single-layer urban canopy model (SLUCM) with realistic representations of urban green infrastructures such as lawn, tree, and green roof, etc. The urban atmospheric boundary layer is simulated by a single column model (SCM) with both convective and stable schemes. This coupled SLUCM-SCM framework can simulate the time evolution and vertical profile of different meteorological variables such as virtual potential temperature, specific humidity and carbon dioxide concentration. The coupled framework has been calibrated and validated in the metropolitan Phoenix area, Arizona. To quantify the model sensitivity, an advanced stochastic approach based on Markov-Chain Monte Carlo procedure has been applied. It is found that the development of urban boundary layer is highly sensitive to surface characteristics of built terrains, including urban land use, geometry, roughness of momentum, and vegetation fraction. In particular, different types of urban vegetation (mesic/xeric) affect the boundary layer dynamics through different mechanisms. Furthermore, this framework can be implanted into large-scale models such as Weather Research and Forecasting model to assess the impact of urbanization on regional climate.
ContributorsSong, Jiyun (Author) / Wang, Zhihua (Thesis advisor) / Vivoni, Enrique R (Committee member) / Mascaro, Giuseppe (Committee member) / Myint, Soe W (Committee member) / Sailor, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Land surface fluxes of energy and mass developed over heterogeneous mountain landscapes are fundamental to atmospheric processes. However, due to their high complexity and the lack of spatial observations, land surface processes and land-atmosphere interactions are not fully understood in mountain regions. This thesis investigates land surface processes and their impact on convective precipitation by conducting numerical modeling experiments at multiple scales over the North American Monsoon (NAM) region. Specifically, the following scientific questions are addressed: (1) how do land surface conditions evolve during the monsoon season, and what are their main controls?, (2) how do the diurnal cycles of surface energy fluxes vary during the monsoon season for the major ecosystems?, and (3) what are the impacts of surface soil moisture and vegetation condition on convective precipitation?
Hydrologic simulation using the TIN-based Real-time Integrated Basin Simulator (tRIBS) is firstly carried out to examine the seasonal evolution of land surface conditions. Results reveal that the spatial heterogeneity of land surface temperature and soil moisture increases dramatically with the onset of monsoon, which is related to seasonal changes in topographic and vegetation controls. Similar results are found at regional basin scale using the uncoupled WRF-Hydro model. Meanwhile, the diurnal cycles of surface energy fluxes show large variation between the major ecosystems. Differences in both the peak magnitude and peak timing of plant transpiration induce mesoscale heterogeneity in land surface conditions. Lastly, this dissertation examines the upscale effect of land surface heterogeneity on atmospheric condition through fully-coupled WRF-Hydro simulations. A series of process-based experiments were conducted to identify the pathways of soil moisture-rainfall feedback mechanism over the NAM region. While modeling experiments confirm the existence of positive soil moisture/vegetation-rainfall feedback, their exact pathways are slightly different. Interactions between soil moisture, vegetation cover, and rainfall through a series of land surface and atmospheric boundary layer processes highlight the strong land-atmosphere coupling in the NAM region, and have important implications on convective rainfall prediction. Overall, this dissertation advances the study of complex land surface processes over the NAM region, and made important contributions in linking complex hydrologic, ecologic and atmospheric processes through numerical modeling.
Hydrologic simulation using the TIN-based Real-time Integrated Basin Simulator (tRIBS) is firstly carried out to examine the seasonal evolution of land surface conditions. Results reveal that the spatial heterogeneity of land surface temperature and soil moisture increases dramatically with the onset of monsoon, which is related to seasonal changes in topographic and vegetation controls. Similar results are found at regional basin scale using the uncoupled WRF-Hydro model. Meanwhile, the diurnal cycles of surface energy fluxes show large variation between the major ecosystems. Differences in both the peak magnitude and peak timing of plant transpiration induce mesoscale heterogeneity in land surface conditions. Lastly, this dissertation examines the upscale effect of land surface heterogeneity on atmospheric condition through fully-coupled WRF-Hydro simulations. A series of process-based experiments were conducted to identify the pathways of soil moisture-rainfall feedback mechanism over the NAM region. While modeling experiments confirm the existence of positive soil moisture/vegetation-rainfall feedback, their exact pathways are slightly different. Interactions between soil moisture, vegetation cover, and rainfall through a series of land surface and atmospheric boundary layer processes highlight the strong land-atmosphere coupling in the NAM region, and have important implications on convective rainfall prediction. Overall, this dissertation advances the study of complex land surface processes over the NAM region, and made important contributions in linking complex hydrologic, ecologic and atmospheric processes through numerical modeling.
ContributorsXiang, Tiantian (Author) / Vivoni, Enrique R (Thesis advisor) / Gochis, David J (Committee member) / Huang, Huei-Ping (Committee member) / Mascaro, Giuseppe (Committee member) / Wang, Zhihua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Urbanization and woody plant encroachment, with subsequent brush management, are two significant land cover changes that are represented in the southwestern United States. Urban areas continue to grow, and rangelands are undergoing vegetation conversions, either purposely through various rangeland management techniques, or by accident, through inadvertent effects of climate and management. This thesis investigates how areas undergoing land cover conversions in a semiarid region, through urbanization or rangeland management, influences energy, water and carbon fluxes. Specifically, the following scientific questions are addressed: (1) what is the impact of different urban land cover types in Phoenix, AZ on energy and water fluxes?, (2) how does the land cover heterogeneity influence energy, water, and carbon fluxes in a semiarid rangeland undergoing woody plant encroachment?, and (3) what is the impact of brush management on energy, water, and carbon fluxes?
The eddy covariance technique is well established to measure energy, water, and carbon fluxes and is used to quantify and compare flux measurements over different land surfaces. Results reveal that in an urban setting, paved surfaces exhibit the largest sensible and lowest latent heat fluxes in an urban environment, while a mesic landscape exhibits the largest latent heat fluxes, due to heavy irrigation. Irrigation impacts flux sensitivity to precipitation input, where latent heat fluxes increase with precipitation in xeric and parking lot landscapes, but do not impact the mesic system. In a semiarid managed rangeland, past management strategies and disturbance histories impact vegetation distribution, particularly the distribution of mesquite trees. At the site with less mesquite coverage, evapotranspiration (ET) is greater, due to greater grass cover. Both sites are generally net sinks of CO2, which is largely dependent on moisture availability, while the site with greater mesquite coverage has more respiration and generally greater gross ecosystem production (GEP). Initial impacts of brush management reveal ET and GEP decrease, due to the absence of mesquite trees. However the impact appears to be minimal by the end of the productive season. Overall, this dissertation advances the understanding of land cover change impacts on surface energy, water, and carbon fluxes in semiarid ecosystems.
The eddy covariance technique is well established to measure energy, water, and carbon fluxes and is used to quantify and compare flux measurements over different land surfaces. Results reveal that in an urban setting, paved surfaces exhibit the largest sensible and lowest latent heat fluxes in an urban environment, while a mesic landscape exhibits the largest latent heat fluxes, due to heavy irrigation. Irrigation impacts flux sensitivity to precipitation input, where latent heat fluxes increase with precipitation in xeric and parking lot landscapes, but do not impact the mesic system. In a semiarid managed rangeland, past management strategies and disturbance histories impact vegetation distribution, particularly the distribution of mesquite trees. At the site with less mesquite coverage, evapotranspiration (ET) is greater, due to greater grass cover. Both sites are generally net sinks of CO2, which is largely dependent on moisture availability, while the site with greater mesquite coverage has more respiration and generally greater gross ecosystem production (GEP). Initial impacts of brush management reveal ET and GEP decrease, due to the absence of mesquite trees. However the impact appears to be minimal by the end of the productive season. Overall, this dissertation advances the understanding of land cover change impacts on surface energy, water, and carbon fluxes in semiarid ecosystems.
ContributorsTempleton, Nicole Pierini (Author) / Vivoni, Enrique R (Thesis advisor) / Archer, Steven R (Committee member) / Mascaro, Giuseppe (Committee member) / Scott, Russell L. (Committee member) / Wang, Zhi-Hua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017