Statistics of air temperature inversions in the atmospheric boundary layer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey P. Kamardin ◽  
Irina V. Nevzorova ◽  
Sergey L. Odintsov
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Temperature Inversions

Evaluating the response of the diurnal range of surface and air temperature to evaporative conditions across vegetation types in ERA5 and FLUXNET data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annu Panwar ◽  
Axel Kleidon
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Heat Storage ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Diurnal Variations ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Evaporative Fraction ◽  
Simple Boundary

<p>The diurnal variations of surface and air temperature are related but their different responses to evaporative conditions can inform us about land-atmosphere interactions, extreme events, and their response to global change. Here, we evaluate the sensitivity of the diurnal ranges of surface (DT<sub>s</sub>R) and air (DT<sub>a</sub>R) temperature to evaporative fraction, across short vegetation, savanna, and forests at 106 Fluxnet observational sites and in the ERA5 global reanalysis. We show that the sensitivity of DT<sub>s</sub>R to evaporative fraction depends on vegetation type, whereas for DT<sub>a</sub>R it does not. Using FLUXNET data we found that on days with low evaporative fraction, DT<sub>s</sub>R is enhanced by up to 20 °C (30 °C in ERA5) in short vegetation, whereas only by 8 °C (10 °C in ERA5) in forests. Particularly, in short vegetation, ERA5 shows stronger responses, which is attributable to a negative bias on days with the high evaporative fraction. ERA5 also tends to have lower shortwave and longwave radiation input when compared to FLUXNET data. Contrary to DT<sub>s</sub>R, DT<sub>a</sub>R responds rather similarly to evaporative fraction irrespective of vegetation type (8 °C in FLUXNET, 10 °C in ERA5). To explain this, we show that the DT<sub>a</sub>R response to the evaporative fraction is compensated for differences in atmospheric boundary layer height by up to 2000 m, which is similar across vegetation types. We demonstrate this with a simple boundary layer heat storage calculation, indicating that DT<sub>a</sub>R is primarily shaped by changes in boundary layer heat storage whereas DT<sub>s</sub>R mainly responds to solar radiation, evaporation, and vegetation.  Our study reveals some systematic biases in ERA5 that need to be considered when using its temperature products for understanding land-atmosphere interactions or extreme events. To conclude, this study demonstrates the importance of vegetation and the dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer in regulating diurnal variations in surface and air temperature under different evaporative conditions.</p>

Space-time distribution of temperature inversions in the Arctic atmospheric boundary layer

1995 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1087-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Nagurny
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Time Distribution ◽  
Space Time ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Temperature Inversions

Abstract. An increase in the amplitude and frequency of temperature inversions in the boundary layer (1.5 km above the Earth's surface) in the Arctic was detected using aerological data from the Russian ice stations during the interval 1954–1987.

scholarly journals Estimation of Turbulent Heat Fluxes via Assimilation of Air Temperature and Specific Humidity into an Atmospheric Boundary Layer Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Tajfar ◽  
S. M. Bateni ◽  
S. A. Margulis ◽  
P. Gentine ◽  
T. Auligne
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Boundary Layer ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Specific Humidity ◽  
Turbulent Heat ◽  
Layer Model ◽  
Ground Heat Flux ◽  
Turbulent Heat Fluxes

AbstractA number of studies have used time series of air temperature and specific humidity observations to estimate turbulent heat fluxes. These studies require the specification of surface roughness lengths for heat and momentum (that are directly related to the neutral bulk heat transfer coefficient CHN) and/or ground heat flux, which are often unavailable. In this study, sequences of air temperature and specific humidity are assimilated into an atmospheric boundary layer model within a variational data assimilation (VDA) framework to estimate CHN, evaporative fraction (EF), turbulent heat fluxes, and atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) height, potential temperature, and humidity. The developed VDA approach needs neither the surface roughness parameterization (as it is optimized by the VDA approach) nor ground heat flux measurements. The VDA approach is tested over the First International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project Field Experiment (FIFE) site in the summers of 1987 and 1988. The results indicate that the estimated sensible and latent heat fluxes agree fairly well with the corresponding measurements. For FIFE 1987 (1988), the daily sensible and latent heat fluxes estimates have a root-mean-square error of 25.72 W m−2 (27.77 W m−2) and 53.63 W m−2 (48.22 W m−2), respectively. In addition, the ABL height, specific humidity, and potential temperature estimates from the VDA system are in good agreement with those inferred from the radiosondes both in terms of magnitude and diurnal trend.

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