Numerical and Laboratory Study of a Horizontally Evolving Convective Boundary Layer. Part I: Transition Regimes and Development of the Mixed Layer

Results are presented from a large eddy simulation (LES) and wind tunnel study of the turbulence regime in a horizontally evolving sheared atmospheric convective boundary layer (CBL) capped by a temperature inversion. The wind tunnel part of the study has been conducted in the thermally stratified tunnel of the University of Karlsruhe. For the numerical part a modified LES procedure that was originally designed for simulation of the horizontally homogeneous atmospheric CBL has been employed.