Climatology of the planetary boundary layer over the continental United States and Europe

Although boundary layer processes are important in climate, weather and air quality, boundary layer climatology has received little attention, partly for lack of observational data sets. We analyze boundary layer climatology over Europe and the continental U.S. using a measure of boundary layer heig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 2012-09, Vol.117 (D17), p.n/a
Main Authors: Seidel, Dian J., Zhang, Yehui, Beljaars, Anton, Golaz, Jean-Christophe, Jacobson, Andrew R., Medeiros, Brian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air quality
Atmospheric sciences
Boundary layers
Climate change
Climate models
Climatology
Diurnal variations
Earth
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Europe
Exact sciences and technology
Geophysics
mixing height
planetary boundary layer
Seasonal variations
Summer
Troposphere
United States
Winter
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Description
Summary:Although boundary layer processes are important in climate, weather and air quality, boundary layer climatology has received little attention, partly for lack of observational data sets. We analyze boundary layer climatology over Europe and the continental U.S. using a measure of boundary layer height based on the bulk Richardson number. Seasonal and diurnal variations during 1981–2005 are estimated from radiosonde observations, a reanalysis that assimilates observations, and two contemporary climate models that do not. Data limitations in vertical profiles introduce height uncertainties that can exceed 50% for shallow boundary layers (
ISSN:0148-0227
2169-897X
2156-2202
2169-8996
DOI:10.1029/2012JD018143