Near-surface temperature inversion growth rate during the onset of the stable boundary layer

Near-surface temperature inversion growth rate during the onset of the stable boundary layer

van Hooijdonk, I.G.S. (TU Delft Atmospheric Remote Sensing; Eindhoven University of Technology)
Clercx, Herman J.H. (Eindhoven University of Technology)
Abraham, Carsten (University of Victoria)
Holdsworth, Amber M. (University of Victoria)
Monahan, Adam H. (University of Victoria)
Vignon, Etienne (Grenoble Alps University/CNRS/IRD)
Moene, Arnold F. (Wageningen University & Research)
Baas, P. (TU Delft Atmospheric Remote Sensing)
van de Wiel, B.J.H. (TU Delft Atmospheric Remote Sensing)

2017-10-01

This study aims to find the typical growth rate of the temperature inversion during the onset of the stable boundary layer around sunset.The sunset transition is a very challenging period for numerical weather prediction, since neither accepted theories for the convective boundary layer nor those for the stable boundary layer appear to be applicable. To gainmore insight in this period, a systematic investigation of the temperature inversion growth rate is conducted. A statistical procedure is used to analyze almost 16 years of observations from the Cabauw observational tower, supported by observations from two additional sites (DomeCandKarlsruhe). The results show that, on average, the growth rate of the temperature inversion (normalized by the maximum inversion during the night) weakly declines with increasing wind speed. The observed growth rate is quantitatively consistent among the sites, and it appears insensitive to various other parameters. The results were also insensitive to the afternoon decay rate of the net radiation except when this decay rate was very weak. These observations are compared to numerical solutions of three models with increasing complexity: a bulk model, an idealized single-column model (SCM), and an operational-level SCM. It appears only the latter could reproduce qualitative features of the observations using a first-order closure. Moreover, replacing this closure with a prognostic TKE scheme substantially improved the quantitative performance. This suggests that idealized models assuming instantaneous equilibrium flux-profile relations may not aid in understanding this period, since history effects may qualitatively affect the dynamics.

Boundary layer
Classification
In situ atmospheric observations
Radiative forcing
Single column models
Temperature

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f1ebbbed-3ece-4de9-a8c9-5c2ac915e007

https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-17-0084.1

0022-4928

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 74 (10), 3433-3449

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2017 I.G.S. van Hooijdonk, Herman J.H. Clercx, Carsten Abraham, Amber M. Holdsworth, Adam H. Monahan, Etienne Vignon, Arnold F. Moene, P. Baas, B.J.H. van de Wiel