Abstract
Empirical similarity functions of the Richardson number, obtained from bin-averaged data in the lower part of the stable boundary layer, show an undesired dependence on height at which the observations are collected. A correction of this flaw is proposed and tested by employing the neutral mixing length l o as a similarity scale for height. The function of height describing l o is assumed to be linear in the surface layer, and approaching a specified value with increasing height. The modification does not alter the dependence of similarity functions on the Richardson number, and is shown to be supported by the Cooperative Atmospheric-Surface Exchange Study-1999 (CASES-99) data.
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Acknowledgments
My appreciation is directed to Dr. Jielun Sun (NCAR) for providing the processed CASES-99 data, and to a reviewer for his constructive and helpful comments. The work has been supported by the National Science Foundation grant ATM-0938293.
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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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Sorbjan, Z. The Height Correction of Similarity Functions in the Stable Boundary Layer. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 142, 21–31 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-011-9653-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-011-9653-x