Detecting the planetary boundary layer height from low-level jet with Doppler lidar measurements

Abstract

The planetary boundary layer (PBL) is an important region of study in the troposphere and one of its more important variable: the PBL height (PBLH) is not easy to detect, mainly in stable conditions due to its complexity. In order to detect the PBLH in stable conditions, in this paper, we apply the low-lev jet (LLJ) method using Doppler lidar measurements, which consists on detecting the LLJ and its maximum velocity height, corresponding to the PBLH. In addition, we analyze this method by comparing and relating it with the variance of horizontal wind and bulk Richardson number (BRN) method from radiosonde data, ensuring the method’s efficiency.