Abstract
A numerical model of the cloudy marine boundary layer is described and used to investigate the role of entrainment instability on the developing boundary layer. In general, previous studies have been limited to boundary layers capped by convectively stable inversions or have described only cumulus fields. Here we extend a stratus-capped boundary-layer model to consider the transition to a convectively unstable cloud layer capped by an inversion across which there is a rapid decrease in wet-bulb or equivalent potential temperature. In this case, the inversion is very active and the entrainment rate is determined by the active instability at the interface, in contrast to the mean turbulent motion within the boundary layer.
The model is used to interpret the observed boundary layer from the JASIN experiment. Cool, dry air is modified by prolonged passage over increasingly warmer ocean which leads to the development of a convectively unstable cloud layer.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albrecht, B. A.: 1981, ‘Parameterization of Trade-Cumulus Cloud Amounts’, J. Atmos. Sci. 38, 97–105.
Betts, A. K.: 1973, ‘Non-Precipitating Cumulus Convection and its Parameterization’, Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 99, 178–196.
Betts, A. K.: 1975, ‘Parametric Interpretation of Trade-Wind Cumulus Budget Studies’, J. Atmos. Sci. 32, 1934–1945.
Betts, A. K.: 1976, ‘Modeling Subcloud Layer Structure and Interaction with a Shallow Cumulus Layer’, J. Atmos. Sci. 33. 2363–2382.
Bougeault, Ph.: 1981a, ‘Modeling the Trade-wind Cumulus Boundary Layer. Part I: Testing the Ensemble Cloud Relations Against Numerical Data’, J. Atmos. Sci. 38, 2414–2428.
Bougeault, Ph.: 1981b, ‘Modeling the Trade-wind Cumulus Boundary Layer. Part II: A High-order One-dimensional Model’, J. Atmos. Sci. 38, 2429–2439.
Charnock, H. and Ellison, T.: 1967, ‘The boundary Layer in Relation to the Large-Scale Motions of the Atmosphere and Ocean’, Report of the study conference on GARP, Appendix III, 1–16.
Deardorff, J. W.: 1976, ‘Usefulness of Liquid-Water Potential Temperature in a Shallow-Cloud Model’, J. Appl. Meteorol. 15, 98–102.
Deardorff, J. W.: 1980, ‘Coud Top Entrainment Instability’, J. Atmos. Sci. 37, 131–147.
Deardorff, J. W., Willis, G. E., and Stockton, B. H.: 1980, ‘Laboratory Studies of the Entrainment Zone of a Convectively Mixed Layer’, J. Fluid Mech. 100, 41–64.
Hanson, H. P.: 1984, ‘On Mixed-Layer Modeling of the Stratocumulus-Topped Marine Boundary Layer’, J. Atmos. Sci. 41, 1226–1234.
Kahn, P. H. and Businger, J. A.: 1979, ‘The Effect of Radiative Flux Divergence on Entrainment of Saturated Convective Boundary Layer’, Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 105, 303–305.
Kraus, E. B. and Leslie, L. D.: 1982, ‘The Interactive Evolution of the Oceanic and Atmospheric Boundary Layers in the Source Regions of the Trades’, J. Atmos. Sci. 39, 2760–2772.
Lilly, D. K.: 1968, ‘Models of Cloud-Topped Mixed Layers Under a Strong Inversion’, Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 94, 292–309.
Marht, L. and Paumier, J.: 1982, ‘Cloud-Top Entrainment Instability Observed in AMTEX’, J. Atmos. Sci. 39, 622–634.
Mellor, G. L.: 1977, ‘The Gaussian Cloud Model Relations’, J. Atmos. Sci. 34, 356–358.
Nicholls, S. Brümmer, B., Fiedler, F., Grant, A., Hauf, T., Jenkins, G., Readings, C., and Shaw, W.: 1983, ‘The Structure of the Turbulent Atmospheric Boundary Layer’, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. (A) 308, 291–309.
Pollard, R. T., T. H. Guymer and Taylor, P. K.: 1983, ‘Summary of the JASIN 1978 Field Experiment’, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. (A) 308, 221–230.
Randall, D. A.: 1980, ‘Entrainment into a Stratocumulus Layer with Distributed Radiative cooling’, J. Atmos. Sci. 37, 148–159.
Riehl H.: dy1979, ‘Climate and Weather in Tropics’, Academic Press, 611 pp.
Rogers, D. P.: 1983, ‘A Numerical Model of the Cloudy Marine Boundary Layer’, Ph. D. dissertation, Univ. of Southampton, 209 pp.
Rogers, D. P. and Telford, J. W.: 1985, Metastable Stratus Tops, Submitted for publication.
Slingo, A., Brown, R., and Wrench, C. L.: 1982, ‘A Field Study of Nocturnal Stratocumulus III High Resolution Radiative and Microsphysical Observations’, Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 108, 145–165.
Sommeria, G. and Deardorff, J. W.: 1977, ‘Subgrid-Scale Condensation in Models of Non-Precipitating Clouds’, J. Atmos. Sci. 34, 344–355.
Stage, S. A.: 1979, ‘A Model for Modification of Cloud-Topped Marine Boundary Layer During Cold Air Outbreak’, Ph. D. dissertation, University of Washington, 281 pp.
Stage, S. A. and Businger, J. A.: 1981a, ‘A Model for Entrainment into a Cloud Topped Marine Boundary Layer. Part I: Model Description and Application to a Cold-Air Outbreak Episode’, J. Atmos. Sci. 38, 2213–2229.
Stage, S. A. and Businger, J. A.: 1981b, ‘A Model for Entrainment into a Cloud Topped Marine Boundary Layer. Part II: Discussion of Model Behaviour and Comparison with Other Models’, J. Atmos. Sci. 38, 2230–2242.
Stull, R. B.: 1980, ‘An Operational Boundary Layer Model That Includes Fair Weather Cumulus’, Extended abstracts from the fifth symposium on Turbulence, Diffusion, and Air Pollution, American Meteorological Society, 45 Beacon Street, Boston, MASS 02108, 82–83.
Stull, R. B.: 1983, ‘Models and Measurements of the Interaction Between the Mixed Layer and Fairweather Cumulus Clouds’ Part I: Proceedings of the APCA Specialty Conference on the Meteorology of Acid deposition, Hartford, CT.
Stull, R. B.: 1984, ‘A Fair-Weather Cumulus Cloud Classification Scheme for Mixed-Layer Studies’, Submitted to J. Clim. Appl. Meteorol.
Taylor, G. I.: 1917, ‘The Formation of Fog and Mist’, Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 43, 241–268.
Taylor, P. K. and Guymer, T. H.: 1983, ‘The Structure of an Atmospheric Warm Front and its Interaction with the Boundary Layer’, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. (A) 308, 341–358.
Taylor, P. K., Grant, A. L., Gunther, H., and Olbruck, G.: 1983, ‘Mass, Momentum, Sensible Heat and Latent Heat Budgets for the Lower Atmosphere’, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. (A) 308, 275–290.
Telford, J. W. and Chai, S. K.: 1984, ‘Inversions, and Fog, Stratus and Cumulus Formation in Warm Air over Cooler Water’, Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 29, 109–137.
Woodcock, A. H. and Wyman, J.: 1947, ‘Convective Motion in Air over the Sea’, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 48, 749–777.
Zipser, E. J. and LeMone, M. A.: 1980, ‘Cumulonimbus Vertical Velocity Events in GATE. Part II: Synthesis and Model Core Structure’, J. Atmos. Sci. 37, 2459–2469.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rogers, D.P., Businger, J.A. & Charnock, H. A numerical investigation of the JASIN atmospheric boundary layer. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 32, 373–399 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00122001
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00122001