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Temperature gradient method for deriving planetary boundary layer height from AIRS profile data over the Heihe River Basin of China

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Abstract

The planetary boundary layer (PBL) or atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) refers to the part of the atmosphere that is directly influenced by the Earth’s surface and responds to surface forces. In this paper, the temperature gradient method that uses the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) atmospheric potential temperature profile product to derive the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) is introduced and applied over the Heihe River Basin (HRB). The method is applicable during clear and cloudy days for both convective and stable air conditions. The reanalysis PBLH from the Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) data and the in situ PBLH calculated from HIWATER (Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research) radiosonde data were both prepared for validation. The comparison shows that the spatial variation in the PBLH from the AIRS is consistent with the MERRA PBLH at the annual scale, and the PBLH from our method has an average of 313 m RMSE and 0.84 R2 with the station in situ PBLH calculated from sounding data. The study demonstrates that remote sensing methodologies can successfully estimate the MH under different atmosphere condition without the need for ancillary field measurements.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the department of housing and urban rural development of Jiangsu Province project (No. 2019ZD001112) and Foundation of Jiangsu Educational Committee (No. 20KJD170006). We thank the HiWATER project for providing radiosonde data and the AIRS data-processing group for atmospheric moisture profile data. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose useful comments will improve the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai’an, 223001, China

    Xueliang Feng, Le Tang, Gang Han & Wenshuang Chen

Authors
  1. Xueliang Feng
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  2. Le Tang
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  3. Gang Han
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  4. Wenshuang Chen
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Contributions

Xueliang Feng was responsible for the implementation of the method used to derive the PBLH, and for data preparation, processing, and writing of the manuscript. Le Tang and GangHan were responsible for the research design and analysis. Wenshuang Chen edited the figures and tables in the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xueliang Feng.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Responsible Editor: Biswajeet Pradhan

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Feng, X., Tang, L., Han, G. et al. Temperature gradient method for deriving planetary boundary layer height from AIRS profile data over the Heihe River Basin of China. Arab J Geosci 14, 87 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-06357-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-06357-9

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