In search of a simple scaling for the height of the stratified atmospheric boundary layer

S. A. Kitaigorodskii; Sylvain M. Joffre

doi:10.3402/tellusa.v40i5.11812

In search of a simple scaling for the height of the stratified atmospheric boundary layer

Tellus

Volume 40 (1988): Issue 5

By: S. A. Kitaigorodskii and Sylvain M. Joffre

Open Access

|Jan 1988

Abstract

On the basis of observational data of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), a simple scaling framework for the evolving ABL is proposed. The theoretical background is based on a simple parameterization of the vertically-integrated dissipation term in the turbulent kinetic energy equation. The scaling introduces the scaling length L_N = u_*/N where u_* is the friction velocity and N the buoyancy frequency, and it applies to both stable and unstable cases. The scaling fits well 3 different sets of data: the Wangara data, the JASIN data and those from an expedition over the sea ice field of the Baltic Sea. The scaling length related to the rotation appears only as a secondary factor.

References

Brost , R. A. and Wyngaard , J. C . 1978 . A model study of the stably stratified planetary boundary layer. J. Atmos. Sci . 35 , 1427 – 1440 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Caughey , S. J. and Palmer , S. G . 1979 . Some aspects of turbulence structure through the depth of the convective boundary layer . Quart. J. R. Met. Soc . 105 , 811 – 827 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Caughey , S. J. , Wyngaard , J. C. and Kaimal J. C . 1979 . Turbulence in the evolving stable boundary layer . J. Atmos. Sci . 36 , 1041 – 1052 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Clarke , R. H. , Dyer , A. J. , Brook , R. R. , Reid , D. G. and Troup , A. J . 1971 . The Wangara experiment: Boundary Layer Data . Techn. Pap. No. 19 , CSIRO, Division of Meteorological Physics, Aspendale , Australia , 362 pp.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Deardorff , J. W. , Willis , G. E. and Stockton B. H . 1980 . Laboratory studies of the entrainment zone of a convectively mixed layer . J. Fluid Mech . 100 , 41 – 64 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Driedonks , A. G. M. and Tennekes , H . 1984 . Entrainment effects in the well-mixed atmospheric boundary layer . Boundary-layer Meteorol . 30 , 75 – 105 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Fernando , H. J. S. and Long , R. R . 1985 . On the nature of the entrainment interface of a two-layer fluid subjected to zero-mean-shear turbulence . J. Fluid Mech . 151 , 21 – 53
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Garnich , N. G. and Kitaigorodskii , S. A . 1977 . On the rate of deepening of the oceanic mixed layer . lzy Acad. Sci. USSR, Atmos. Ocean. Phys . 13 , 888 – 893 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Garnich , N. G. and Kitaigorodskii S. A . 1978 . On the theory of the deepening of the upper quasihomo-geneous ocean layer owing to the processes of purely wind-induced mixing . Izu. Acad. Sci. USSR, Atmos. Ocean, Phys . 14 , 748 – 755 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Garratt , J. R. and Brost , R. A . 1981 . Radiative cooling effects within and above the nocturnal boundary layer . J. Atmos. Sci . 38 , 2730 – 2746 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Hicks , B. B . 1981 . An analysis of Wangara micro-meteorology: surface stress, sensible heat, evaporation, and dewfall . NOAA Techn. Memorandum ERL ARL-I 04 , 36 pp.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Joffre , S. M . 1981 . The physics of the mechanically-driven atmospheric boundary layer as an example of air-sea ice interactions . Report no. 20 , Dept. Meteorology, Univ. of Helsinki , 75 pp.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Joffre , S. M . 1982 . Momentum and heat transfers in the surface layer over a frozen sea . Boundary-Layer Meteorol , 24 , 211 – 229 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Joffre , S. M . 1983 . Determining the form drag contribution to the total stress of the atmospheric flow over ridged sea ice . J. Geophys. Res . 88 , 4524 – 4530 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kazanski , A. B. and Monin , A. S . 1960 . The turbulent regime above the surface atmospheric layer . Izu. Acad. Sci. Ser. Geofiz . 1 , 165 – 168 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kitaigorodskii , S. A . 1960 . Calculating the thickness of the wind-induced mixing layer in the ocean . lzu. Akad. Nauk SSSR., Ser Geof . 3 . 425 – 431 ( English Ed. 284-287) .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kitaigorodskii , S. A ., 1973 . The physics of air-sea interaction ., Israel Prog. Scient. Transl ., Jerusalem , pp. 236 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kitaigorodskii , S. A . 1979 . Review of the theories of wind mixed layer deepening. Marine Forecasting . Proceedings of X Liege Colloquium on Ocean Hydro-dynamics, Elsevier Publ . 4 , 1 – 33 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kitaigorodskii , S. A . 1988 . A note on similarity theory for atmospheric boundary layers in presence of background stable stratification . Tellus 40A , 434 – 438 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Mahrt , L. and André , J. C . 1983 . On the stratification of turbulent mixed layers . J. Geophys, Res . 88 , 2662 – 2666 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Mahrt , L. and Lenschow , D. H . 1976 . Growth dynamics of the convectively mixed-layer . J. Atmos. Sci . 33 , 41 – 51 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Melgarejo , J. W. and Deardorff , J. W . 1974 . Stability functions for the boundary layer resistance laws based on observed boundary-layer heights . J. Atmos. Sci . 31 , 1324 – 1333 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Monin , A. S. and Obukhov , A. M . 1954 . Basic laws of turbulent mixing in the surface layer of the atmosphere . Tr. Geofiz. Inst. Akad Nauk USSR 24 ( 151 ), 173 187 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Nicholls , S . 1985 . The structure of the marine atmospheric boundary layer observed during JASIN . Quart. J. R. Met. Soc . 111 , 391 – 426 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Nicholls , S. and C. J. Readings 1979 . Aircraft observations of the structure of the lower boundary layer over the sea . Quart. J. R. Met. Soc . 105 , 785 – 802 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Nieuwstadt , F. T. M. and Tennekes , H . 1981 . A rate equation for the nocturnal boundary-layer height . J. Atmos. Sci . 38 , 1418 – 1428 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Niiler , P. P . 1975 . Deepening of the wind-mixed layer . J. Mar. Res . 33 , 405 – 422 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Pollard , R. T. , Rhines , P. B. and Thompson , R. O. R. Y . 1973 . The deepening of the wind-mixed layer . Geophys. Fluid. Dyn . 3 , 381 – 404 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Resnyansky , Yu. D . 1975 . Parameterization of the integral turbulent energy dissipation in the upper quasihomogeneous layer of the ocean . lzv. Acad. Sci. USSR, Atmos. Ocean. Phys . 11 , 453 – 457 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Tennekes , H . 1973 . A model for the dynamics of the inversion above a convective boundary layer . J. Atmos. Sci . 30 , 558 – 567 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Tennekes , H . 1975 . Reply to comments on “A model for the dynamics of the inversion above a convective boundary layer” . J. Atmos, Sci . 32 , 992 – 995 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Tennekes , H. and Driedonks , A. G. M . 1981 . Basic entrainment equations for the atmospheric boundary layer . Boundary-layer Meteorol . 20 , 515 – 531 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Wyngaard , J. C. and Brost , R. A . 1984 . Top-down and bottom-up diffusion of a scalar in the convective boundary layer . J. Atmos. Sci . 41 , 102 – 112 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Zeman , O . 1979 . Parameterization of the dynamics of stable boundary layers and nocturnal jets . J. Atmos. Sci . 36 , 792 – 804 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Zeman , O. and Lumley. J. L . 1976 . Modelling buoyancy driven mixed layers . J. Atmos. Sci . 33 , 1974 – 1988 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Zeman , O. and Tennekes , H . 1977 . Parameterization of the turbulent energy budget at the top of the daytime atmospheric boundary layer . J. Atmos. Sci . 34 , 111 – 123 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Zilitinkevich , S. S . 1975 . Comments on “A model for the dynamics of the inversion above a convective boundary layer” . J. Atmos. Sci . 32 , 991 – 995 .
Search in Google Scholar Back to article

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v40i5.11812 | Journal eISSN: 3035-9554

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Page range: 419 - 433

Submitted on: Feb 2, 1987

Accepted on: Feb 9, 1987

Published on: Jan 1, 1988

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 1988 S. A. Kitaigorodskii, Sylvain M. Joffre, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 40 (1988): Issue 5