The authors use large-eddy simulation (LES) to investigate entrainment and structure of the inversion layer of a clear convectively driven planetary boundary layer (PBL) over a range of bulk Richardson numbers, Ri. The LES code uses a nested grid technique to achieve fine resolution in all three directions in the inversion layer. Extensive flow visualization is used to examine the structure of the inversion layer and to illustrate the temporal and spatial interaction of a thermal plume and the overlying inversion. It is found that coherent structures in the convective PBL, that is, thermal plumes, are primary instigators of entrainment in the Ri range 13.6 ⩽ Ri ⩽ 43.8. At Ri = 13.6, strong horizontal and downward velocities are generated near the inversion layer because of the plume–interface interaction. This leads to folding of the interface and hence entrainment of warm inversion air at the plume’s edge. At Ri = 34.5, the inversion’s strong stability prevents folding of the interface but stron... Abstract The authors use large-eddy simulation (LES) to investigate entrainment and structure of the inversion layer of a clear convectively driven planetary boundary layer (PBL) over a range of bulk Richardson numbers, Ri. The LES code uses a nested grid technique to achieve fine resolution in all three directions in the inversion layer. Extensive flow visualization is used to examine the structure of the inversion layer and to illustrate the temporal and spatial interaction of a thermal plume and the overlying inversion. It is found that coherent structures in the convective PBL, that is, thermal plumes, are primary instigators of entrainment in the Ri range 13.6 ⩽ Ri ⩽ 43.8. At Ri = 13.6, strong horizontal and downward velocities are generated near the inversion layer because of the plume–interface interaction. This leads to folding of the interface and hence entrainment of warm inversion air at the plume’s edge. At Ri = 34.5, the inversion’s strong stability prevents folding of the interface but stron...

Flow in a stably stratified environment is characterized by anisotropic and intermittent turbulence and wavelike motions of varying amplitudes and periods. Understanding turbulence intermittency and wave‐turbulence interactions in a stably stratified flow remains a challenging issue in geosciences including planetary atmospheres and oceans. The stable atmospheric boundary layer (SABL) commonly occurs when the ground surface is cooled by longwave radiation emission such as at night over land surfaces, or even daytime over snow and ice surfaces, and when warm air is advected over cold surfaces. Intermittent turbulence intensification in the SABL impacts human activities and weather variability, yet it cannot be generated in state‐of‐the‐art numerical forecast models. This failure is mainly due to a lack of understanding of the physical mechanisms for seemingly random turbulence generation in a stably stratified flow, in which wave‐turbulence interaction is a potential mechanism for turbulence intermittency. A workshop on wave‐turbulence interactions in the SABL addressed the current understanding and challenges of wave‐turbulence interactions and the role of wavelike motions in contributing to anisotropic and intermittent turbulence from the perspectives of theory, observations, and numerical parameterization. There have been a number of reviews on waves, and a few on turbulence in stably stratified flows, but not much on wave‐turbulence interactions. This review focuses on the nocturnal SABL; however, the discussions here on intermittent turbulence and wave‐turbulence interactions in stably stratified flows underscore important issues in stably stratified geophysical dynamics in general.

The Canopy Horizontal Array Turbulence Study (CHATS) took place in spring 2007 and is the third in the series of Horizontal Array Turbulence Study (HATS) experiments. The HATS experiments have been instrumental in testing and developing subfilterscale (SFS) models for large-eddy simulation (LES) of planetary boundary layer (PBL) turbulence. The CHATS campaign took place in a deciduous walnut orchard near Dixon, California, and was designed to examine the impacts of vegetation on SFS turbulence. Measurements were collected both prior to and following leafout to capture the impact of leaves on the turbulence, stratification, and scalar source/sink distribution. CHATS utilized crosswind arrays of fast-response instrumentation to investigate the impact of the canopy-imposed distribution of momentum extraction and scalar sources on SFS transport of momentum, energy, and three scalars. To directly test and link with PBL parameterizations of canopy-modified turbulent exchange, CHATS also included a 30-m profile tower instrumented with turbulence instrumentation, fast and slow chemical sensors, aerosol samplers, and radiation instrumentation. A highresolution scanning backscatter lidar characterized the turbulence structure above and within the canopy; a scanning Doppler lidar, mini sodar/radio acoustic sounding system (RASS), and a new helicopter-observing platform provided details of the PBL-scale flow. Ultimately, the CHATS dataset will lead to improved parameterizations of energy and scalar transport to and from vegetation, which are a critical component of global and regional land, atmosphere, and chemical models. This manuscript presents an overview of the experiment, documents the regime sampled, and highlights some preliminary key findings.