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Daytime boundary layer behavior over eastern region (per-humid climate) and western regions (semi-arid climate) of India: a case study

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Abstract

The annual variation in planetary boundary layer (PBL) height is determined from the profiles of conserved thermodynamic variables, i.e., virtual potential temperature θ v and equivalent potential temperature θ e, using radiosonde data at per-humid climate region, Ranchi (23°42′N, 85°33′E, 610 m asl) and semi-arid region, Anand (23°35′N, 72°55′E, 45.1 m asl), India. Of all the variables, the θ v profile seems to provide the most reasonable estimate of the PBL height. This has been supplemented by T-Phi gram analysis for specific days. It has been found that in winter the height of boundary layer is very low due to subsidence and radiational cooling, while pre-monsoon months exhibit the most variable convection. It may be inferred that synoptic conditions accompanied by a variety of weather phenomena such as thunderstorms, onset and withdrawal of monsoons, etc. control the ABL over Ranchi, while daytime solar insolation and nighttime radiative cooling mainly control the ABL over Anand.

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Acknowledgments

The present piece of work is a part of the work done during the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India-sponsored project under its coordinated field research program on CTCZ. Therefore, the authors are thankful to the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for providing the funding. The authors are also thankful to the Gujarat Agricultural University, Anand (now Anand Agricultural University) for providing the data collected from land surface processes experiment (LASPEX-97), which was also financed by the DST, New Delhi.

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Correspondence to Manoj Kumar.

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Kumar, M., Kumar, A., Mallik, C. et al. Daytime boundary layer behavior over eastern region (per-humid climate) and western regions (semi-arid climate) of India: a case study. Meteorol Atmos Phys 111, 55–64 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-010-0116-6

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