Determining Boundary-Layer Height from Aircraft Measurements

The height of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is an important variable in both observational studies and model simulations. The most commonly used measurement for obtaining ABL height is a rawinsonde profile. Mesoscale or regional scale models use a bulk Richardson number based on profiles of the forecast variables. Here we evaluate the limitations of several frequently-used approaches for defining ABL height from a single profile, and identify the optimal threshold value for each method if profiles are the only available measurements. Aircraft measurements from five field projects are used, representing a variety of ABL conditions including stable, convective, and cloud-topped boundary layers over different underlying surfaces. ABL heights detected from these methods were validated against the ‘true’ value determined from aircraft soundings, where ABL height is defined as the top of the layer with significant turbulence. A detection rate was defined to denote how often the ABL height was correctly diagnosed with a particular method. The results suggest that the temperature gradient method provides the most reasonable estimates, although the detection rate and suitable detection criteria vary for different types of ABL. The Richardson number method, on the other hand, is in most cases inadequate or inferior to the other methods that were tried. The optimal range of the detection criteria is given for all ABL types examined in this study.