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The effect of baroclinicity on the equilibrium depth of neutral and stable planetary boundary layers
Author(s) -
Zilitinkevich Sergej S.,
Esau Igor N.
Publication year - 2003
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 - 10.1256/qj.02.94
Subject(s) - baroclinity , barotropic fluid , stratification (seeds) , geophysics , context (archaeology) , geology , primitive equations , geophysical fluid dynamics , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , physics , climatology , nonlinear system , paleontology , seed dormancy , botany , germination , numerical partial differential equations , dormancy , quantum mechanics , biology
Earlier studies of the depths of the geophysical planetary boundary layers (PBLs) basically focused on the effects of the earth's rotation and density stratification. One more inherent feature of geophysical flows, namely their baroclinicity, has not been considered in that context. The present paper makes up for this deficiency. Diagnostic equations for the depths of the equilibrium, baroclinic, neutral or stable PBLs are derived and verified against data from large‐eddy simulations (LES). These latter represents the most convenient empirical‐validation tool, which allows considering separately different types of PBL: barotropic and baroclinic; truly neutral and conventionally neutral; nocturnal stable and long‐lived stable. The LES are performed using a new code specifically designed for modelling the neutral and stable PBL. Results from the comparison show an excellent correspondence between the proposed equations and LES data. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society