Linking Boundary Layer Circulations and Surface Processes during FIFE 89. Part II: Maintenance of Secondary Circulation

Abstract

Land–atmosphere interactions are examined for three different synoptic situations during a 21-day period in the course of the First ISLSCP (International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project) Field Experiment 1989 to better understand the relationship between biophysical feedback processes, boundary layer structure, and circulations in the boundary layer. The objective is to understand how the secondary circulation discussed in Part I of this paper was able to sustain itself throughout the duration of the 1989 intensive field campaign. The study is based on diagnostic analysis of measurements obtained from a network of surface meteorology and energy budget stations, augmented with high vertical resolution radiosonde measurements. Shallow convection associated with an undisturbed boundary layer situation and rainfall occurring during two different disturbed boundary layer situations—one associated with a surface trough, the other with the passage of a cold front—led to markedly different impacts on the surface layer and the boundary layer recovery timescale. In the undisturbed case, the growth of a cloud layer produced a negative feedback on the boundary layer by stabilizing the surface layer, and cutting off the turbulence transport of heat and moisture into the subcloud layer. The deficits in heat and moisture then led to cloud dissipation. During the surface trough development and cold front passage events, rainfall reaching the surface led to the collapse of the surface layer, decrease of surface and subsurface soil temperatures, depressed sensible heating, and a slow reduction and even temporary termination of evapotranspiration. After the rains subsided, the boundary layer recovery process began with vigorous evapotranspiration rates drying the upper soil layers on a timescale of 1–2 days. During this period, 55%–65% of the net surface available heating was used for evapotranspiration, whereas only 30%–35% went directly into boundary layer heating. As the near-surface soil moisture dropped, surface sensible heating became more important in influencing boundary layer energetics. The boundary layer required approximately two days to recover to its initial temperature in the case of the surface trough. After passage of the cold front, both the soil and boundary layer cooled and dried due to cold temperature advection. Evapotranspiration rates remained relatively large for about two days after the frontal passage. The boundary layer had not completely recovered by the end of the intensive data collection period after the frontal passage, so recovery time was at least a week. The analysis shows that with the exception of three days during the surface trough event, and two or three days during the frontal passage event, the surface-driven secondary circulation persisted.