TY - JOUR
T1 - Contrasting Air Mass Advection Explains Significant Differences in Boundary Layer Depth Seasonal Cycles Under Onshore Versus Offshore Flows
AU - Pal, Sandip
AU - Lee, Temple R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was sponsored by an internal start-up research grant at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. The IGRA rawinsonde data sets were obtained from ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/ and the satellite imagery from Google Earth Inc. We note that the results and conclusions, and any views expressed herein, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NOAA or the Department of Commerce. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their objective assessments, which helped improve the article.
Funding Information:
This project was sponsored by an internal start‐up research grant at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. The IGRA rawinsonde data sets were obtained from ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/ and the satellite imagery from Google Earth Inc. We note that the results and conclusions, and any views expressed herein, are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NOAA or the Department of Commerce. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their objective assessments, which helped improve the article.
Publisher Copyright:
©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2019/3/16
Y1 - 2019/3/16
N2 - The complexities in the atmospheric boundary layer depth (BLD) features over coastal regions pose challenges for meteorological forecasts, air quality, greenhouse gas mixing and transport, and wind energy production. Here, for the first time, we investigated afternoon BLD variability over 18 coastal sites in the contiguous United States located along the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, and Pacific Ocean using 25 years of rawinsonde launches. Due to influence of shallow marine layer air via onshore flow, substantially large BLD contrasts (∆BLD, BLD under offshore minus onshore) were found. ∆BLDs over the sites varied both seasonally and spatially among the coastal regions and within a region. For the sites along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, ∆BLDs were found to be higher in spring and summer (500–1,500 m) than in winter and fall (100–450 m). Results underscore the importance of advection on BLD footprints and provide observational constraints for model evaluation.
AB - The complexities in the atmospheric boundary layer depth (BLD) features over coastal regions pose challenges for meteorological forecasts, air quality, greenhouse gas mixing and transport, and wind energy production. Here, for the first time, we investigated afternoon BLD variability over 18 coastal sites in the contiguous United States located along the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, and Pacific Ocean using 25 years of rawinsonde launches. Due to influence of shallow marine layer air via onshore flow, substantially large BLD contrasts (∆BLD, BLD under offshore minus onshore) were found. ∆BLDs over the sites varied both seasonally and spatially among the coastal regions and within a region. For the sites along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean, ∆BLDs were found to be higher in spring and summer (500–1,500 m) than in winter and fall (100–450 m). Results underscore the importance of advection on BLD footprints and provide observational constraints for model evaluation.
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U2 - 10.1029/2018GL081699
DO - 10.1029/2018GL081699
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85062514137
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 46
SP - 2846
EP - 2853
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 5
ER -
