Meteorological Models For Optical Properties In The Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer

C. W. Fairall; K. L. Davidson; G. E. Schacher

doi:10.1117/12.7972993

1 October 1982 Meteorological Models For Optical Properties In The Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer

C. W. Fairall, K. L. Davidson, G. E. Schacher

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 21, Issue 5, 215847 (October 1982). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.7972993

Abstract

Observational experiments on turbulent intensities and aerosol distributions in the marine boundary layer (MBL) have been performed over several years. Observations have been made with ship-mounted and airplane-mounted sensors. Objectives have been to relate optical properties to meteorological descriptions which utilize scaling laws for the MBL. The approach has been to incorporate* in the descriptions the surface fluxes of momentum, heat, and moisture, the processes at the inversion and the profiles within the intervening convectively mixed layer. We have found that the optical turbulence parameter Cn2 can be readily estimated using measured mean values of wind, temperature, and humidity with recent bulk formulas to derive the surface fluxes. These estimates appear to be more reliable than values obtained from direct (but difficult to perform) turbulence measurements. The model for obtain-ing the estimates was evaluated on the basis of optical Cn2 values with good agreement. Good comparisons have been observed between extinction values obtained from transmission measurements and those obtained from calculations on measured aerosol distributions. Existing empirical formulations which related the latter to wind speed and relative humidity appear to be inadequate except for climatological purposes. This is because other influences on equilibrium aerosol distribution are not included. Reformulation of these expressions is being performed to include the height of the inversion (mixing volume) and surface fluxes (aerosol generation and transport).

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C. W. Fairall, K. L. Davidson, and G. E. Schacher "Meteorological Models For Optical Properties In The Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer," Optical Engineering 21(5), 215847 (1 October 1982). https://doi.org/10.1117/12.7972993

Published: 1 October 1982

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