Abstract
The characteristics of submeso motions in the stable boundary layer are examined using observations from networks of sonic anemometers with network sizes ranging from a few hundred metres to 100 km. This study examines variations on time scales between 1 min and 1 h. The analysis focuses on the behaviour of the spectra of the horizontal kinetic energy, the ratios of the three velocity variances, their kurtosis, the dependence of horizontal variability on time scale, and the inter-relationship between vertical vorticity, horizontal divergence and deformation. Motions on larger time and space scales in the stable boundary layer are found to be nearly two-dimensional horizontal modes although the ratio of the vorticity to the divergence is generally on the order of one and independent of scale. One exception is a small network where stronger horizontal divergence is forced by a decrease in surface roughness. The horizontal variability, averaged over 1 h, appears to be strongly influenced by surface heterogeneity and increases with wind speed. In contrast, the time dependence of the horizontal structure on time scales less than one hour tends to be independent of wind speed for the present datasets. The spectra of the horizontal kinetic energy and the ratio of the crosswind velocity variance to the along-wind variance vary substantially between networks. This study was unable to isolate the cause of such differences. As a result, the basic behaviour of the submeso motions in the stable boundary layer cannot be generalized into a universal theory, at least not from existing data.
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Acknowledgements
The helpful comments of the reviewers are greatly appreciated. The EBEX and CASES-99 data were provided by the Integrated Surface Flux Facility of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. This material is based upon work supported by NSF Grant ATM-0607842, DTRA grant W911NF-06-1-0439 and ARO Contract W911FN05C0067.
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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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Mahrt, L. Characteristics of Submeso Winds in the Stable Boundary Layer. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 130, 1–14 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-008-9336-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-008-9336-4