On the effect that the direction of geostrophic wind has on turbulence and quasiordered large-scale structures in the atmospheric boundary layer

The dependence that the structure and intensity of turbulent and large-scale quasiordered eddies in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) have on the direction of geostrophic wind has been studied on the basis of a series of numerical experiments with a three-dimensional nonstationary model of high spatial resolution. The presence of the meridional component of the angular velocity of the Earth’s rotation results in a significant intensification of velocity fluctuations in a neutrally stratified turbulent flow during the easterly and northeasterly winds and in their decay during the westerly and southwesterly winds. This, in turn, results in significant variations in the mean velocity profile. It is shown that these variations are associated with the largest scale fluctuations and are comparable (in scale) to the depth of Ekman’s turbulent layer. It is found that, in the neutrally stratified ABL bounded in height and under stable stratification inside the ABL, the wind-direction dependence significantly decreases. The possibilities of parameterizing these effects in locally one-dimensional ABL models are discussed.