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Vertically integrated sensible-heat budgets for stable nocturnal boundary layers

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/8049gb258

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  • The stable nocturnal boundary layer is commonly viewed or modelled as a balance between the temperature tendency (cooling) and vertical heat-flux divergence. Sometimes the radiative-flux divergence is also included. This perspective has dictated the design of field experiments for investigating stable nocturnal boundary layers. Tower-based micrometeorological data from three field campaigns are analysed to evaluate the vertically integrated sensible-heat budget for nocturnal stable conditions. Our analysis indicates frequent occurrence of large imbalance between the temperature tendency and vertical heat-flux divergence terms. The values of the radiative-flux divergence are generally too small and sometimes of the wrong sign to explain the residual. An analysis of random flux errors and uncertainties in the tendency term indicate that such errors cannot explain large imbalances, suggesting the importance of advection of temperature or possibly the divergence of mesoscale fluxes. The implied role of advection is consistent with circumstantial evidence. Even weak surface heterogeneity can create significant horizontal gradients in stable boundary layers. However, it is shown that existing field data and observational strategy do not allow adequate evaluation of advection and mesoscale flux divergence terms.
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  • Nakamura, R., & Mahrt, L. (2006). Vertically integrated sensible-heat budgets for stable nocturnal boundary layers. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 132, 383-403. doi:10.1256/qj.05.50
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  • 132
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  • 615
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