The Natural Laboratory of the Solar Eclipse for Investigating Switching of Surface Layer Turbulent Fluxes

Solar eclipses are astronomical phenomena generating multiple influences on atmospheric processes, with short-wave radiation effects having been studied extensively. In contrast, there are relatively few studies on turbulent fluxes. This paper reviews effects of total solar eclipses on turbulent fluxes at the Earth’s surface, the local wind conditions, and time delays in the associated responses. Such investigations effectively occur within an unusual natural laboratory, providing the responses of atmospheric phenomena under predictable and rapidly changing radiative forcing, similar to that occurring during convective cloud cover changes. Recommendations are provided on how to optimise investigations to exploit the unique circumstances presented by future total solar eclipses, including through utilising the several hundred suitable measuring stations worldwide already operating continuously within existing research programmes.