Heat and momentum transfers under strong stability in the atmospheric surface layer

Abstract

Transfers of heat and momentum under strongly stable conditions in the atmospheric boundary layer have been studied through measurements of the turbulent fluctuations and vertical mean profiles of wind velocity and air temperature. As the local gradient Richardson number increases, intermittent turbulence appears, especially in temperature fluctuations. The ratio of the eddy conductivity to the eddy viscosity decreases with increasing Richardson number and tends to zero at high stabilities. The local value of the dimensionless shear function for wind velocity does not exceed a limit of about six. These results imply that the eddy viscosity for very stable conditions does not take the infinitesimally small value predicted from extrapolation of the so-called log-linear profile, and that the flux Richardson number has a limit in the range of 0.1-0.4, although the gradient Richardson number can become indefinitely large. It is also shown that the divergences of both the radiative and turbulent heat fluxes are significant in the stable atmosphere.