Stable Boundary Layer in Complex Terrain. Part I: Linking Fluxes and Intermittency to an Average Stability Index

Average heat and momentum fluxes observed by a network of surface stations during the Hudson Valley Ambient Meteorology Study (HVAMS) were found as functions of a spatially representative bulk Richardson number Ri br . Preferential sites were identified for the occurrence of strong turbulence under mesoscale stability conditions common to all stations. Locally sensed turbulence intermittency depends on the mesoscale flow stability. Nearly continuous turbulence with few long-lived intermittent events occurs when Ri br < Ri cr , the critical gradient Richardson number. Less-continuous mixing associated with a larger number of events occurs when Ri cr < Ri br < 5, with the weakest turbulence and fewer events observed for Ri br ≫ Ri cr . It was found that the need to allow for extra mixing above the conventional critical bulk Richardson number in numerical weather prediction models is primarily a consequence of spatial averaging in a heterogeneous landscape and is secondarily the result of turbulence above Ri cr at locations with “nonideal fetch.”