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The resistance law for stably stratified atmospheric planetary boundary layers
Author(s) -
Kadantsev Evgeny,
Mortikov Evgeny,
Zilitinkevich Sergej
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.4019
Subject(s) - planetary boundary layer , stratification (seeds) , stratified flow , boundary layer , meteorology , atmosphere (unit) , atmospheric sciences , thermal stratification , environmental science , mechanics , geology , physics , turbulence , biology , seed dormancy , germination , botany , dormancy
The resistance law for stably and neutrally stratified atmospheric planetary boundary layers (PBL) entered textbooks on boundary‐layer meteorology but, until now, remains practically unused in modelling applications. This is not surprising. The law has been formulated and validated only for idealised cases, such as truly neutral PBL – implying neutral stratification across the entire atmosphere, nocturnal stable PBL – stably stratified near the surface but developed against the neutrally stratified free flow, and (more recently) conventionally neutral PBLs – neutrally stratified near the surface but developed against stable stratification in the free flow. We derive and validate the general formulation of the resistance law accounting for the integral effect on PBL of stable stratifications at the surface and in the free atmosphere. Such long‐lived stable PBLs, typical of wintertime at high latitudes, were until recently overlooked in boundary‐layer meteorology, not to mention weather and climate models. The proposed general formulation of the resistance law covers long‐lived stable PBLs and opens up prospects for their improved modelling.