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- Author or Editor: Axel von Engeln x
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Abstract
A planetary boundary layer (PBL) height climatology from ECMWF reanalysis data is generated and analyzed. Different methods are first compared to derive PBL heights from atmospheric temperature, pressure, and relative humidity (RH), which mostly make use of profile gradients, for example, in RH, refractivity, and virtual or potential temperature. Three methods based on the vertical gradient of RH, virtual temperature, and potential temperature were selected for the climatology generation. The RH-based method appears to capture the inversion that caps the convective boundary layer very well as a result of its temperature and humidity dependence, while the temperature-based methods appear to capture the PBL better at high latitudes. A validation of the reanalysis fields with collocated radiosonde data shows generally good agreement in terms of mean PBL height and standard deviation for the RH-based method. The generated ECMWF-based PBL height climatology shows many of the expected climatological features, such as a fairly low PBL height near the west coast of continents where stratus clouds are found and PBL growth as the air is advected over warmer waters toward the tropics along the trade winds. Large seasonal and diurnal variations are primarily found over land. The PBL height can exceed 3 km, mostly over desert areas during the day, although large values can also be found in areas such as the ITCZ. The robustness of the statistics was analyzed by using information on the percentage of outliers. Here in particular, the sea-based PBL was found to be very stable.
Abstract
A planetary boundary layer (PBL) height climatology from ECMWF reanalysis data is generated and analyzed. Different methods are first compared to derive PBL heights from atmospheric temperature, pressure, and relative humidity (RH), which mostly make use of profile gradients, for example, in RH, refractivity, and virtual or potential temperature. Three methods based on the vertical gradient of RH, virtual temperature, and potential temperature were selected for the climatology generation. The RH-based method appears to capture the inversion that caps the convective boundary layer very well as a result of its temperature and humidity dependence, while the temperature-based methods appear to capture the PBL better at high latitudes. A validation of the reanalysis fields with collocated radiosonde data shows generally good agreement in terms of mean PBL height and standard deviation for the RH-based method. The generated ECMWF-based PBL height climatology shows many of the expected climatological features, such as a fairly low PBL height near the west coast of continents where stratus clouds are found and PBL growth as the air is advected over warmer waters toward the tropics along the trade winds. Large seasonal and diurnal variations are primarily found over land. The PBL height can exceed 3 km, mostly over desert areas during the day, although large values can also be found in areas such as the ITCZ. The robustness of the statistics was analyzed by using information on the percentage of outliers. Here in particular, the sea-based PBL was found to be very stable.
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Polar System is the European contribution to the European–U.S. operational polar meteorological satellite system (Initial Joint Polar System). It serves the midmorning (a.m.) orbit 0930 Local Solar Time (LST) descending node. The EUMETSAT satellites of this new polar system are the Meteorological Operational Satellite (Metop) satellites, jointly developed with ESA. Three Metop satellites are foreseen for at least 14 years of operation from 2006 onward and will support operational meteorology and climate monitoring.
The Metop Programme includes the development of some instruments, such as the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment, Advanced Scatterometer, and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding, which are advanced instruments of recent successful research missions. Core components of the Metop payload, common with the payload on the U.S. satellites, are the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and the Advanced Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) Operational Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) package, composed of the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS), Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit A (AMSU-A), and Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS). They provide continuity to the NOAA-K, -L, -M satellite series (in orbit known as NOAA-15, -16 and -17). MHS is a EUMETSAT development and replaces the AMSU-B instrument in the ATOVS suite. The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument, developed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, provides hyperspectral resolution infrared sounding capabilities and represents new technology in operational satellite remote sensing.
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Polar System is the European contribution to the European–U.S. operational polar meteorological satellite system (Initial Joint Polar System). It serves the midmorning (a.m.) orbit 0930 Local Solar Time (LST) descending node. The EUMETSAT satellites of this new polar system are the Meteorological Operational Satellite (Metop) satellites, jointly developed with ESA. Three Metop satellites are foreseen for at least 14 years of operation from 2006 onward and will support operational meteorology and climate monitoring.
The Metop Programme includes the development of some instruments, such as the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment, Advanced Scatterometer, and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding, which are advanced instruments of recent successful research missions. Core components of the Metop payload, common with the payload on the U.S. satellites, are the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and the Advanced Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) Operational Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) package, composed of the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS), Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit A (AMSU-A), and Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS). They provide continuity to the NOAA-K, -L, -M satellite series (in orbit known as NOAA-15, -16 and -17). MHS is a EUMETSAT development and replaces the AMSU-B instrument in the ATOVS suite. The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument, developed by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, provides hyperspectral resolution infrared sounding capabilities and represents new technology in operational satellite remote sensing.
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding (GRAS) is a radio occupation instrument especially designed and built for operational meteorological missions. GRAS has been developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) in the framework of the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS). The GRAS instrument is already flying on board the first MetOp satellite (.MetOp-A) that was launched in October 2006. It will also be on board two other MetOp satellites (MetOp-B and MetOp-C) that will successively cover the total EPS mission lifetime of over 14 yr. GRAS provides daily about 600 globally distributed occultation measurements and the GRAS data products are disseminated to the users in near-real time (NRT) so that they can be assimilated into numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems. All GRAS data and products are permanently archived and made available to the users for climate applications and scientific research through the EUMETSAT Unified Meteorological Archive and Retrieval Facility (U-MARF) and the GRAS Meteorology Satellite Application Facility (SAF) Archive and Retrieval Facility (GARF). The GRAS navigation data can be used in space weather applications.
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding (GRAS) is a radio occupation instrument especially designed and built for operational meteorological missions. GRAS has been developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) in the framework of the EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS). The GRAS instrument is already flying on board the first MetOp satellite (.MetOp-A) that was launched in October 2006. It will also be on board two other MetOp satellites (MetOp-B and MetOp-C) that will successively cover the total EPS mission lifetime of over 14 yr. GRAS provides daily about 600 globally distributed occultation measurements and the GRAS data products are disseminated to the users in near-real time (NRT) so that they can be assimilated into numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems. All GRAS data and products are permanently archived and made available to the users for climate applications and scientific research through the EUMETSAT Unified Meteorological Archive and Retrieval Facility (U-MARF) and the GRAS Meteorology Satellite Application Facility (SAF) Archive and Retrieval Facility (GARF). The GRAS navigation data can be used in space weather applications.
