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- Title
Characteristics and Scaling of the Stable Marine Internal Boundary Layer.
- Authors
Jiang, Qingfang; Wang, Qing
- Abstract
The characteristics of a stable internal boundary layer (SIBL) offshore of Duck, North Carolina documented during CASPER‐EAST have been examined using surface layer‐resolving large eddy simulations. Under the influence of steady offshore winds, a SIBL develops over the coastal waters with its depth growing with the offshore advection time (TA) as ∼TA. The SIBL includes an internal equilibrium layer above the surface where the heat and momentum fluxes linearly decrease with height and a transition layer aloft. The offshore area can be partitioned into three distinct zones, namely, a nearshore zone (NSZ, TA < Td/3), an intermediate offshore zone (IOZ, Td/3 < TA < Td), and a far‐offshore zone (FOZ, TA > Td), where Td is the vertically‐averaged turbulent dissipation time. The advection of turbulence from land plays a significant role in the momentum and scalar budgets over the NSZ. Consequently, the Monin‐Obukhov similarity theory (MOST) becomes invalid, and local similarity theory is applicable only above the SIBL in the NSZ. In the IOZ, the advection of turbulence from land is less important but still non‐negligible. As a result, while the dimensionless standard deviations of winds and potential temperature converge toward the MOST curves, the dimensionless gradients are smaller than their counterparts in the FOZ. In the FOZ, the advection from land becomes negligible, and MOST is applicable throughout the constant flux layer. Over the IOZ and the FOZ, LST works reasonably well within the SIBL. Plain Language Summary: When warm air blows over the cooler coastal waters, a shallow stable layer develops, which is termed a stable internal boundary layer (SIBL). Turbulence and the general characteristics in the SIBL are still not well understood. These issues are explored in this study using field observations and high‐resolution large eddy simulations. These simulations are shown to be consistent with the existing observations and provide new insights into the SIBL physics and scaling. Key Points: Stable internal boundary layer develops over cooler coastal waters with depth proportional to the square root of the offshore advection timeThe offshore area can be divided into three distinct zones based on the ratio of the offshore advection and turbulence dissipation timesThe Monin‐Obukhov similarity theory is invalid in the nearshore zone, valid in the far offshore zone, and partially valid between the two
- Subjects
TERRITORIAL waters; ADVECTION; TURBULENCE; LARGE eddy simulation models; OFFSHORE structures
- Publication
Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres, 2021, Vol 126, Issue 21, p1
- ISSN
2169-897X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2021JD035510