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Thermal Submeso Motions in the Nocturnal Stable Boundary Layer. Part 2: Generating Mechanisms and Implications

DOI zum Zitieren der Version auf EPub Bayreuth: https://doi.org/10.15495/EPub_UBT_00005429
URN to cite this document: urn:nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-5429-3

Title data

Pfister, Lena ; Lapo, Karl ; Mahrt, Larry ; Thomas, Christoph:
Thermal Submeso Motions in the Nocturnal Stable Boundary Layer. Part 2: Generating Mechanisms and Implications.
In: Boundary-Layer Meteorology. Vol. 180 (28 April 2021) . - pp. 203-224.
ISSN 1573-1472
DOI der Verlagsversion: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-021-00619-z

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Project information

Project title:
Project's official title
Project's id
DarkMix - Illuminating the dark side of surface meteorology: creating a novel framework to explain atmospheric transport and turbulent mixing in the weak-wind boundary layer
724629

Project financing: European Union, Horizon2020, ERC

Related research data

doi: 10.5281/zenodo.4290254

Abstract

In the stable boundary layer, thermal submesofronts (TSFs) are detected during the Shallow Cold Pool experiment in the Colorado plains, Colorado, USA in 2012. The topography induces TSFs by forming two different air layers converging on the valley-side wall while being stacked vertically above the valley bottom. The warm-air layer is mechanically generated by lee turbulence that consistently elevates near-surface temperatures, while the cold-air layer is thermodynamically driven by radiative cooling and the corresponding cold-air drainage decreases near-surface temperatures. The semi-stationary TSFs can only be detected, tracked, and investigated in detail when using fibre-optic distributed sensing (FODS), as point observations miss TSFs most of the time. Neither the occurrence of TSFs nor the characteristics of each air layer are connected to a specific wind or thermal regime. However, each air layer is characterized by a specific relationship between the wind speed and the friction velocity. Accordingly, a single threshold separating different flow regimes within the boundary layer is an oversimplification, especially during the occurrence of TSFs. No local forcings or their combination could predict the occurrence of TSFs except that they are less likely to occur during stronger near-surface or synoptic-scale flow. While classical conceptualizations and techniques of the boundary layer fail in describing the formation of TSFs, the use of spatially continuous data obtained from FODS provide new insights. Future studies need to incorporate spatially continuous data in the horizontal and vertical planes, in addition to classic sensor networks of sonic anemometry and thermohygrometers to fully characterize and describe boundary-layer phenomena.

Further data

Item Type: Article in a journal
Keywords: Fibre optics; Stable boundary layer; Submesoscale motion; Topography
DDC Subjects: 500 Science > 500 Natural sciences
500 Science > 550 Earth sciences, geology
Institutions of the University: Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Earth Sciences > Professor Micrometeorology
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Earth Sciences > Professor Micrometeorology > Professor Micrometeorology - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christoph K. Thomas
Profile Fields > Advanced Fields > Ecology and the Environmental Sciences
Profile Fields > Advanced Fields > Nonlinear Dynamics
Faculties
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Faculties > Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences > Department of Earth Sciences
Profile Fields
Profile Fields > Advanced Fields
Language: English
Originates at UBT: Yes
URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:703-epub-5429-3
Date Deposited: 30 Apr 2021 09:50
Last Modified: 22 Sep 2023 11:50
URI: https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/5429

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