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.
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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
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00122001