Analysis of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Height Characteristics over the Arctic Ocean Using the Aircraft and GPS Soundings

Abstract

Utilizing aircraft sounding data collected from the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA, 1998) campaign, the authors evaluated commonly-used profile methods for Arctic ABL height estimation by validating against the ‘true’ ABL height from aircraft sounding profiles, where ABL height is defined as the top of the layer with significant turbulence. Furthermore, the best performing method was used to estimate ABL height from the one-year GPS soundings obtained during SHEBA (October 1997–October 1998). It was found that the temperature gradient method produces a reliable estimate of ABL height. Additionally, the authors determined optimal threshold values of temperature gradient for stable boundary layer (SBL) and convective boundary layer (CBL) to be 6.5 K/100 m and 1.0 K/100 m, respectively. The maximum ABL height during the year was 1150 m occurred in May. Median values of Arctic ABL height in May, June, July, and August were 400 m, 430 m, 180 m, and 320 m, respectively. Arctic ABL heights are clearly higher in the spring than in the summer.