Response of ecosystem carbon and water vapor: Exchanges in evolving nocturnal low-level jets

Abstract

The nocturnal low-level jet makes a significant impact on carbon and water exchanges and turbulent mixing processes in the atmospheric boundary layer. This study reports a case study of nocturnal surface fluxes such as CO2 and water vapor in the surface layer observed at a flat and homogeneous site in the presence of low-level jets (LLJs). In particular, it documents the temporal evolution of the overlying jets and the coincident response of surface fluxes. The present study highlights several factors linking the evolution of low-level jets to surface fluxes: 1) wavelet analysis shows that turbulent fluxes have similar time scales with temporal scale of LLJ evolution; 2) turbulent mixing is enhanced during the transition period of low-level jets; and 3) CO2, water vapor and heat show dissimilarity from momentum during the period. We also found that LLJ activity is related not only to turbulent motions but also to the divergence of mean flow. An examination of scalar profiles and turbulence data reveal that LLJs transport CO2 and water vapor by advection in the stable boundary layer, suggesting that surface fluxes obtained from the micrometeorological method such as nocturnal boundary layer budget technique should carefully interpreted in the presence of LLJs.