impact of a golf course on nocturnal katabatic flow within gold canyon, arizona: a case study

Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science

Impact of a Golf Course on Nocturnal Katabatic Flow Within Gold Canyon, Arizona: a CaseStudyAuthor(s): Matthew PaceSource: Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, Vol. 42, No. 1 (2010), pp. 36-43Published by: Arizona-Nevada Academy of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20789457 .

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Impact of a Golf Course on Nocturnal Katabatic Flow Within Gold Canyon, Arizona: a Case Study

Matthew Pace, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, PO Box 875302, Tempe, AZ 85287-5302

Abstract With an increasing number of golf courses within Gold Canyon, Arizona, located at the foot of the Superstition

Mountains, this study determines if characteristics of nocturnal katabatic flow, with respect to temperature, dew point, wind speed and direction, were altered due to a golf course. To answer this question, I devised a four transect plan in which four weather stations measured temperature and dew point at three levels (0.70 m, 1.25 m and 2.5 m), along with wind speed at two levels (1.25 m and 2.5 m), as well as wind direction at 2.5 m. I positioned two stations above the golf course, considered natural stations, and two stations below the golf course, considered to be anthropogenically influenced stations. I then collected data over a six-night period starting at 1700 MST on January 3 and ending at 0945 MST on

January 9. A golf course community appears to significantly modify katabatic flow. Using Analysis of Variance, coupled with Tukey's comparison test, at the 95 percentile confidence interval, the mean temperature and dew point at 0.70 m, 1.25 m and 2.5 m were significantly different from the top of the course when compared to the bottom. Wind speeds at 1.25 m and 2.5 m were appreciably dissimilar. Locations below the golf course had considerably lower temperatures and higher dew points, with relation to proximity to the course. The most notable finding was directly down slope of the course where katabatic flow was found to be near non-existent, even when a strong katabatic flow event occurred just upslope of the golf course. This near elimination of katabatic flow is likely to be the result of cool/moist and, subse quently, dense air residing over the golf course due to the grass surface. As the katabatic flow moving off the nearby Superstition Mountains reached this cooler and more moist/dense air, it slowed as the density differences between the two air masses were lowered.

Introduction While slope flow has been heavily studied (Banta

and Cotton 1981, Mahrt et al. 2001, Monti et al.

2002), as well as how it affects the urban heat island

(Kuttler et al. 1996), how the flow itself is impacted by developed areas has been rarely researched. This

paper examines how nocturnal katabatic flow is

impacted by an unnatural/built environment. More

specifically it addresses the question of "What are the

meteorological impacts of a golf course on nocturnal katabatic flow within Gold Canyon, Arizona?" With the creation of the new suburb of Gold Canyon (Fig. 1), located at the base of the Superstition Mountains to the east of the main Phoenix, AZ, metropolitan area, the possibility exists that the slope flow on a diurnal cycle of the area has been significantly impacted by the development. This paper's primary hypothesis is that a golf course will alter the flow with regard to temperature, moisture content and wind speed. With a rapidly cooling surface and, subsequently, air temperature over the golf course, it is possible that two sources of flow will develop,

with the primary flow emanating from the Supersti tion Mountains and a secondary flow generated by the golf course. It is also plausible to discern that wind speeds within the flow will be weaker below the golf course, since air over the golf course will

likely be cooler/more dense compared to that ushered into the area by katabatic flow, resulting in lower

wind speeds due to the difference in air density decreasing.

Katabatic flow can be influenced by both small and large-scale topographic features as well as

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external meteorological events; especially upper level winds and cloud cover (Barr and Orgill 1989, Gudiksen et al. 1992, Soler et al. 2002). With this type of flow being influenced heavily by natural phenomena, it is plausible that it could also be affected by anthropogenic features such as urban centers or by other man-made modifications to a natural surface, such as the development of a golf course.

Pace, M. 2010. Impact of a golf course on nocturnal katabatic flow within Gold Canyon, Arizona: A case study. Journal of the Arizona -Nevada Academy of Science 42(1 ):36-43.



Golf Course Influence on Katabatic Flow + Pace 37

Since data collection only occurred over six

nights, this study is by necessity only a preliminary investigation of the characteristics of katabatic flow around a golf course. Consequently, the results should lead towards better understanding of meso

and microclimatology/meteorology within an urban area and serve as a catalyst for future research into how katabatic flow is modified on a larger scale, both spatially and temporally, by differing manufac tured settings.

Katabatic Flow and Urban Areas Katabatic flow, also termed down slope flow or

cold air drainage, is simply the process in which air near/adjacent a sloping surface rapidly cools as

incoming shortwave radiation is reduced and becomes denser than surrounding air parcels. At this

point, air becomes denser, loses buoyancy, and

begins to flow down slope (Monti et al. 2002). Katabatic flow has been defined by sustained down slope winds between 1-5 ms"1 with the transition

periods, which normally occur shortly before sunset and shortly after sunrise, to be noted with low winds

speeds generally <0.5 m"1 (Monti et al. 2002, Smith et al. 2010).

It has been shown that the best conditions for katabatic flow to develop include surface winds less than 5ms"1, low humidity values, and clear skies

(Barr and Orgill 1989), which are generally the conditions expected under high pressure. With the southwestern United States under high pressure nearly 70% of the year (Wang and Angeli 1999), katabatic flows are experienced regularly across numerous locations throughout the region with slop ing topography.

Even though katabatic flow occurs regularly under mainly high pressure settings, it is a delicate flow regime, meaning it can be greatly modified by both differing scales of topographic features (Mahrt et al. 2001) as well as external meteorological vari

ables, such as upper level winds, cloud cover and

atmospheric moisture content (Gudiksen et al. 1992, Barr and Orgill 1989). In particular, Barr and Orgill (1989) found that even when conditions were con ducive for katabatic flow at the surface, it can be

impacted by upper level winds along mountain ridges or above the source of the cold air flow. Katabatic flow height is generally 3 m or less in gentle slopes (Mahrt et al. 2001) but can become as deep as 10 to 60 m (Gudiksen et al. 1992). Addi tionally, if upslope flow above the katabatic flow height was greater than 14 ms"1 or the cross valley wind speeds were greater than 9 ms"1, the katabatic flow would be seriously modified, if not halted altogether.

There has been relatively limited research deal ing with how katabatic flow impacts urban areas.

Kuttler et al. (1996) examined how nocturnal kata batic flow impacted a city in a narrow valley. Dur

ing early evening hours they noted that cold air draining out of the mountains was unable to reach the urban center but, instead, flowed around, or at times over, the city. This resulted in a much greater urban heat island effect since rural stations were

experiencing cold air draining from the surrounding higher topography. It was not until the second half of the night that cold air finally moved into the cen ter of the city resulting in cooling.

The most notable piece of research was con ducted by Balling and Lolk (1991) in which they found development of golf courses in the Palm Springs, CA, area resulted in the lowering of after noon temperatures by about 2?F. Those researchers also concluded that with the proliferation of golf courses, the moisture content is likely to increase which may yield higher minimum temperatures and a decrease in human comfort.

Methodology Study Area

With the creation of the new suburb of Gold Canyon, AZ, located at the base of the Superstition Mountains in central Arizona to the east of the major Phoenix metropolitan area (Fig. 1), anthropogenic modification of the normal katabatic flow may have occurred. The Superstition Mountains which have a summit of 1,535 m above mean sea level (Mountain Zone 2010) and rise approximately 956 m above Gold Canyon commonly produce katabatic flows. Since prior studies have shown katabatic flow can become quite complex with varying topography at both large and small scales (Mahrt et al. 2001), it was necessary to choose a study area within Gold

Canyon in which the topography was as constant as

possible and included both natural landscape as well as a golf course. Since katabatic flow has also been found to run perpendicular to the height contours (Clements et al. 1989), it was crucial to locate an area where natural landscape and a golf course lie on the same sloping plane in order to accurately deter

mine changes to one particular air mass as it moves

through the developed region. The northwest portion of Gold Canyon was

found to meet the above mentioned criterion. This 10.4-km2 study area has fairly constant topography and contains a 36-hole professional golf course, owned and operated by the Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club, which covers approxi mately 3.9 km2, and above the course is a com

pletely native environment. Examining the slope contour this study area lies within a continuous down sloping drainage plain emerging out of two converging canyons at the foot of the Superstitions, with the golf course situated almost directly in the center of the down-sloping plane.



38 Golf Course Influence on Katabatic Flow + Pace

Data Collection A four transect plan was devised to encircle the

golf course (Fig. 2). Transect One was located along the 610 m elevation contour and was 2 km in length. The path/elevation contour was selected for several reasons: (1) having the transect follow a constant elevation allows for none of the variance in temper ature along the transect to be the result of elevation, (2) the 610 m elevation contour was the first to be outside of the golf course and have a completely natural environment along or in close proximity. This transect consisted of natural landscape upslope, with the golf course community on average 0.4 km from the transect on a down-sloping path. Transect Two was located just down slope of the golf course and followed the 549 m elevation contour and was 2.2 km in length. At the center of this transect, the

golf course lies 0.27 km upslope and on the end it lies -0.6 km from the course. Transect Three and Four connect the top of bottom transects and follow the path that katabatic flow should theoretically take, which is perpendicular to the elevation con tours. With these four transects an accurate repre sentation of katabatic flow into and out of the golf course community can be obtained.

Along both Transect One and Two, 2.5 m tri

pods (T1-T4) measuring temperature and dew point at 0.7 m, 1.25 m and 2.50 m, wind speed at 1.25 m

(with the exception of T2 on Transect One) and 2.50 m and wind direction at 2.5 m. In addition, four other stations (H5-H10) measuring temperature and dew point at 1.25 m were placed along both tran sects. The tripods were placed ~1 km from each other following the transect line with a temperature/ dew point station located half way in between each station. I installed two additional temperature/dew point stations located to the southeast of T2 and T3 at ~0.55km intervals for the purpose of gaining sup plementary data for mapping. Transects Three and Four were equipped with two temperature/dew point stations at elevations of 563 m and 579 m which connect Transects One and Two along a theoretical katabatic flow path. All data were averaged and out

putted every 5 min. The Met One Instruments Inc. 034A Wind Sets

measured wind direction and speed at 2.5 m with a

starting threshold of 0.40 ms"1. The Met One Instru ments Inc. 014A Wind Sensor measured wind speed at 1.25 m with a starting threshold of 0.45 ms"1.

Finally, the onset Incorporated HOBO Pro Series

temperature and dew-point sensor measured the three temperature/dew point levels on the tripods, as

well as 10 other temperature/dew point stations

along the transects. All instrumentation was cali brated prior to deployment.

I also collected secondary data, which included

sky cover and cloud heights recorded at Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport and obtained via the National Weather Service. Use of these data was crucial since it has been found that significant cloud cover can

Figure 2. Satellite imagery tions. Filled circles represent stations with wind speed mea sured at 2.5 m and 1.25 m (exception 12, with wind speed only at 2.5 m), wind direction at 2.5 m and temperature/dew point at 2.5 m, 1.25 m and 0.70 m. Unfilled circles represent tempera ture/dew point measurements taken at 1.25 m. (Image Source:

Google Earth, Inc.).

impact development of katabatic flow as it reduces

cooling due to longwave radiational cooling (Barr and Orgill 1989).

Data Analysis First, and foremost, it had to be determined

when, if any, katabatic flow developed during the

nights of the study period, January 3rd through 9th. To determine this, I used both tripod stations T2 and T4 to assess when katabatic flow began and ended, as well as what times it was strongest. In order to

complete an assessment of flow, I conducted an

analysis of raw and graphed data for both wind

speed and direction (Fig. 3), along with cloud cover data measured at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport,. For this study, three conditions had to be met in order for flow to be considered well established: ( 1 ) wind direction had to be within ?30? of the upslope direction for at least 15 min, (2) low, 1.25 m, wind

speeds had to be greater than 1 ms"1 and the upper wind speed could not be greater than 5 ms"1, which follows closely to guidelines Pypker et al. (2007) used and found adequate and, lastly, (3) sky condi tions had to be clear to mostly clear since it has been found that nights with increased cloud cover can hinder katabatic flow (Barr and Orgill 1989).

Katabatic flow occurred on the following nights within the study period January 4-5, 5-6, 6-7 and 8-9. On the remaining nights, 3-4 and 7-8, the upper level winds increased, with direction becoming vari

able, resulting in a weak or hindered flow due to external meteorological factors not associated with



Golf Course Influence on Katabatic Flow + Pace

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Note the wind speed at 1.25m was not measured at T2.

katabatic flow. Interestingly, a distinct drop in wind

speed occurred within the transition period during the early evening and early morning hours, as was also found by other researchers such as Monti et al.

(2002), Brazel et al. (2005), Smith et al. (2010). Since the scope of this paper is to analyze how

nocturnal katabatic flow is affected by a golf course, I used the averaged meteorological conditions for the times from 1900 to 0500 MST on the nights

with katabatic flow in analyses as that period is

likely to be the time of most constant and strong katabatic flow. Smaller variations, such as the transition times, lie outside the scope of this

paper.

Results and Discussion Wind Speed and Direction

Wind speed and direction are main characteristics of katabatic flow. Direction of flow has been found to move perpendicular to

topographic height contours and, in this study, it has been chosen to allow a ?30? buffer from the

upslope direction to be considered katabatic flow. A significant difference arose in the num ber of times this direction criteria was broken for station T3, located just down slope from the

golf course. Within the 121, 5-min periods averaged between 1900 MST and 500 MST, T3 did not meet this directional criteria 32% of the time, which is significantly higher compared to that of T4 at 12%, and both T2 and Tl at 2%. This deviation from katabatic flow direction can also be clearly seen by examining wind direction

graphs for each station (Fig. 4). One explanation for these directional results

at T3 is lower wind speeds. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) test, with a Tukey's comparison test conducted on all four stations wind speeds, demonstrated that station T3 had a

statistically significant, at the 95% confidence

interval, lower mean wind speeds at both 1.25 m and 2.5 m levels. Station T3 measured mean wind

speeds of 0.83 ms"1 at 2.5 m and 0.53 ms"1 at 1.25 m,

compared to T2 which recorded mean wind speeds of 1.71 ms'1 at 2.5 m and 1.23 ms"1 at 1.25 m. With much slower wind speeds at T3, the wind direction became variable, especially since the weather vane used in this study had a starting threshold of 0.40 ms"1 which is near the mean wind speeds recorded at T3.

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One reason for a reduced wind speed was the result of a weaker inversion measured at T3. Clements et al. ( 1989) found that the speed of drain age flow increased linearly with the inversion

strength. As a result, inversion strength was calcu

lated, where Ttop was temperature measured at 2.5 m

and Tbottom was temperature measured at 0.7m.

Figure 5 shows the inversion strength for each of the four stations and, quite noticeably, the rural stations (T2 and T4) had a significantly greater inversion compared to stations below the golf course (Tl and T3). With these results, I conducted a Pearson Product Correlation on wind speeds, at both the 2.5 m and 1.25 m, and inversion strength to see if similar results to Clements et al. (1989) could be established for this experiment.

All wind speeds, with the exception of those measured at T3, were positively correlated and con sidered significant at the 95 percentile. While Tl is below, but to the northeast of the golf course, it still is affected as it was found to have smaller inversion

strength and not as highly correlated as the upper stations, especially when looking at the 2.5 m wind

speeds. Station T3, was not significantly correlated to inversion strength.

Examining the difference between wind speeds measured at 1.25 m and those at 2.5m yields inter

esting results as well. As noted within the literature

review, higher or near equal wind speed at a lower level compared to an upper level indicate substantial katabatic flow. The mean difference between upper (2.5 m) and lower (1.25 m) wind speeds was -0.0173 ms1, at T4, indicating katabatic flow

conditions; while T2's mean was 0.2732 ms"1 and T3 was 0.3503 ms'1, indicating that a true katabatic

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flow never fully developed during the nocturnal per iod for either Tl or T3, when using a wind speed difference criteria. An ANOVA test with a Tukey's comparison test indicated the means discussed above were significantly different at the 95 per centile, when comparing the T4 station with the Tl and T3 stations.

Temperature and Dew Point Temperature, in general, at each of the three

heights (0.70 m, 1.25 m and 2.5 m) was exceedingly different when comparing the above course and below course measurements (Fig. 6). Once again, an ANOVA test, at the 95 percentile confidence inter

val, demonstrated that the means from above and below the golf course are significantly different at all measurement levels. Mean temperatures at Tl and T3, along the bottom of the golf course, were between 5.66?C and 6.25?C, where upslope the course mean temperatures were between 8.20?C and

9.70?C, recorded by stations T2 and T4. This indi cates that a strong source of cooling lies between the two transects which is suspected to be the golf course due to strong radiational cooling over the

grass surface. Of particular interest is the rate of cooling

between the top and bottom stations (Fig. 6a). Sta tions Tl and T3 have the fastest rate of cooling,

while stations T2 and T4 have cooling rates that are

approximately 48% lower. This reinforces the point that rapid cooling over the golf course is resulting in cooler temperatures at locations around and beneath the course.

Examining average dew points, for nights with katabatic flow, a major difference in moisture pro files could be seen. Most notably, Tl and T3 had the

highest dew points throughout the entire overnight period (Fig. 7). It is also of importance to note similar dew point profiles for both stations T2 and T4 throughout the course of the night for upper and lower dew point readings, indicating a fairly constant moisture field above the golf course. While Tl and T3 are both elevated, when compared to T2 and T4, they have significantly different mean dew

points throughout the course of the night, tested by ANOVA at the 95 percentile confidence interval. This is likely the result of proximity of the station to the golf course, since it was found that air flowing off the Superstitions has a nearly constant dew point profile, as measured across the top transect. Mean

ing, if nothing was to influence the dew point, it would be expected to show the same moisture field

along the lower transect, which was not the case.

Modification to the Katabatic Flow With lowered temperatures beneath, and pre

sumably within, the golf course community, and

measuring significantly lower wind speeds at both



Golf Course Influence on Katabatic Flow + Pace

Figure 6. Data presented is derived from all stations (T1-T4). (a) Time period of 1900 MST through 2100 MST with linear trendlines with equations (b) 2.5m temperature in ?C (c) 1.25m temperature in ?C (d) 0.70m temperature in ?C.

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F/gure 7. Dafa presented is derived from all stations (T1-T4). (a) 2.5 m dew

point in ?C (b) 1.25 m dew point in ?C (c) 0.70 m dew point in ?C.




the 2.5 m and 1.25 m levels along with variations in wind direction directly below the golf course, it can be concluded that the golf course and surrounding community are drastically impacting the katabatic flow. While the scope of this paper is too limited to an initial examination of anthropogenic modifica tion to katabatic flow, a few general conclusions as to controls on the changing katabatic flow can be drawn.

Since katabatic flow is mainly due to density differences between air masses, as previously defined, changing density of an air mass will change the speed and overall flow characteristics. With cooler air residing below and, even though not

measured, can be assumed within the golf course

throughout the night, compared to the surrounding regions the density of air will be higher over the golf course when compared to the surrounding region, as air density has been found to increase as air temperature decreases (Barry and Chorley 1987). As the katabatic flow moves off the Superstition Mountains and into areas that have already been cooled and moistened by the golf course, it meets denser air and slows since the density differences become less to non-existent. This can be seen by two facets: (1) weak to almost non-existent kata batic flow measured at T3 when examining wind direction and wind speed, and (2) slower katabatic speeds measured at 1. It is expected that Tl does not experience drastically reduced flow as T3 due to the fact it lies on the periphery of the golf course and is only affected by a small portion of the

moist/cool dense air residing over the golf course.

Conclusions Given rural Phoenix region's rapid growth over

the past 10 to 15 years, including development of three golf courses, I evaluated the influences a golf course, within Gold Canyon AZ, had on the char acteristics of nocturnal katabatic flow. I collected data over a six-night period, in which four of those

nights were found to have significant katabatic flow to analyze. I then analyzed those data, both in the visual sense via raw data and charts, along with sta tistical tests such as Analysis of Variance and Pear son's Correlation after data were normalized.

Using average data from four nights, within the six-night collection period, there was a significant change in temperature and dew point when com

paring conditions upslope and down slope of the golf course. Temperatures at all three measurement levels were significantly less below the golf course as well as dew points significantly higher, at the 95 percentile confidence interval. A decrease in wind

speeds at both 1.25 m and 2.5 m were also signifi cantly lower when compared to the upper stations. In fact, the mean wind speeds for T3, the station located directly down slope of the golf course, were 0.83 ms"1 at 2.5 m and 0.53ms"1 at 1.25 m, which

resulted in a varying wind direction as well. This, in

turn, resulted in a nearly complete stop in katabatic flow directly below the course. This is thought to be due to cold and, subsequently, dense air that resides over the golf course. When katabatic flow moving off the Superstition Mountains meets this dense air over the golf course, the density difference between the two air masses decreases, thereby halting and/or

dramatically reducing katabatic flow, since the

greater difference in density of the two air masses, the stronger the katabatic flow has been found to be (Monti et al. 2002).

While I can conclude that there is a significant difference in the characteristics of katabatic flow due to a golf course, based on these findings I would recommend that fixture studies of such phenomenon increase the scope on both a temporal and spatial scale. Instrumentation can be placed at higher heights as conducted by other researchers studying katabatic flow (Clements et al. 1989, Papadopoulos and Helmis 1999, Pypker et al. 1999, Mahrt et al. 2001, Monti et al. 2002, Savage et al. 2008), which would result in the actual profile in both horizontal and vertical directions to be analyzed.

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Golf Course Influence on Katabatic Flow + Pace 43

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