Flux–gradient relationship, self‐correlation and intermittency in the stable boundary layer

Abstract

Abstract The correlation between dimensionless shear ϕ m and dimensionless height z/L , where L is the Obukhov length, for stable conditions is strongly influenced by self‐correlation for the present datasets. This effect is quite large for stronger stability but still significant for near‐neutral conditions. A conditional analysis of nocturnal stable boundary‐layer data, where ‘non‐turbulent’ parts of the record are removed, reduces the impact of nonstationarity and therefore reduces the scatter. The conditional analysis also reduces the relative importance of self‐correlation. Difficulties with estimating self‐correlation are also discussed. Copyright © 2004 Royal Meteorological Society