The nocturnal boundary‐layer regime transition from weakly stable (strong wind) to very stable (weak wind) is analyzed using 10 levels of turbulence observations made at a 140 m micrometeorological mast near the southeastern Brazilian coast. The combination of synoptic and local flow favors the systematic occurrence of such a transition, typically 5 to 7 h after sunset. The regime transition is marked by decreases in temperature, wind speed, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and absolute heat flux. The decrease in temperature is often abrupt and the inflection point in the temperature series marks the regime transition. Absolute heat flux peaks before the transition during the weakly stable period, while temperature variance peaks near the transition. Composites from 36 cases when the cooling rate exceeded 2 °C/h are used to describe the vertical structure of the stable boundary layer (SBL) in both regimes. For these abrupt transitions, dimensionless variables that relate thermal and mechanical properties of the flow are compared as indicators of the SBL regime, and the gradient Richardson number is found to be better for that purpose. The absolute heat flux is shown to be proportional to the cube of the wind speed only in the strong wind limit of the very stable regime. Simulations of similar transitions using a second‐order model are described in Part II.

The mean wind speed at which the stable boundary layer (SBL) experiences a turbulence regime transition (V_r) depends on other flow characteristics, such as its thermal stability. Here, V_r variability is examined both at a single site and across sites using three multiple‐level datasets: Santa Maria, Cooperative Atmosphere–Surface Exchange Study–1999 (CASES‐99), and Fluxes over Snow Surfaces (FLOSS II). A method to determine V_r is introduced and validated. It is taken as the mean wind speed at which the vertical gradient of the turbulence velocity scale switches sign. Emphasis is given to the control exerted on V_r by quantities that are external to the SBL, such as radiation, roughness, and soil properties. In each of the experiments, V_r increases with net radiative loss at the surface (R_n) at a rate that is site‐dependent. It also increases for smaller roughness lengths, as indicated by its wind direction dependence. No conclusive relationship has been found between V_r and downward longwave radiation observed at the surface. The across‐site comparison indicates that soil heat capacity influences the rate at which V_r increases with R_n.

A 140-m micrometeorological tower provides detailed observations on the vertical structure of mean and turbulent fields of meteorological variables at a coastal region in southeastern Brazil, besides revealing the extent to which a nearby power plant affects the local atmospheric boundary layer. A 140-m micrometeorological tower has been operating since August 2016 at 4 km from the coastline and 250 m from a thermal power plant that releases heat from its 20-m stacks in southeastern Brazil. The measurements include 11 level of turbulence observations, as well as 10 levels of slow-response temperature and humidity. The observed atmospheric structure is largely dependent on the wind direction with respect to the power plant. When winds blow from the plant to the tower, the air layer between 20 and 60 m of the atmosphere may be warmed by as much as 2 C. In these circumstances there are events when the emissions pass directly by the tower. They allow the analysis of turbulence structures of thermal plumes generated from the plant heat release in comparison with those generated by the surface heating. In the more common case of winds blowing from the tower to the plant, the observations allow a detailed description of the local atmospheric boundary layer. During the day, vertical profiles of turbulent quantities and of their spectral distributions show a cycle controlled by interactions between the land and oceanic surfaces, such as a thermal internal boundary layer. At night, there is a systematic tendency of progressive stabilization throughout the period, suitable for the analysis of the boundary layer transition from weakly to very stable conditions. The data also grant the inference of detailed vertical profiles of turbulent diffusion coefficients directly from observations.

Observations of the vertical and temporal structure of the nocturnal boundary layer before and after a transition from the weakly to the very stable regime have been presented in Part I. Here, similar transitions are investigated using a one‐dimensional second‐order closure numerical model, with an energy budget solved at the surface. The transition is driven by a decreasing mean wind at the top of the domain, and simulations with different cloud covers and surface thermal properties are considered. The time of the transition depends on the wind speed at the top of the domain and on the “coupling strength” between the surface and the atmosphere, which is affected by the cloud cover and surface thermal properties. The vertical profiles and temporal evolutions of the terms of the budgets of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), heat flux and temperature variance are presented. Of these, only TKE budget presents the same dominant terms in both regimes. Absolute heat flux in the model is proportional to the cube of the wind speed in the very stable regime.