DESIGN CRITERIA FOR WATER TANK MODELS OF DISPERSION IN THE PLANETARY CONVECTIVE BOUNDARY-LAYER

Design criteria for laboratory water-analogs of clear-air penetrative convection in the atmosphere are described. Consideration is given to the range of factors relevant to modelling both turbulent penetrative convection and the dispersion of buoyant point-source plumes within th e convective boundary layer. Scaling arguments based on mixed-layer an d plume scaling show that at typical laboratory scales, saline convect ion can satisfy the requirements for modelling buoyant plume dispersio n under strongly convective (light wind) conditions better than heated water tanks or wind tunnels.