Abstract
This paper discusses the observations of the Atmospheric Surface Layer (ASL) parameters during the solar eclipse of August 11th, 1999. Intensive surface layer experiments were conducted at Ahmedabad (23‡21′N, 72‡36′E), the western part of India, which was close to the totality path. This rare event provided by nature is utilised to document the surface layer effects during the eclipse period using measurements of high frequency fluctuations of temperature, tri-axial wind components as well as mean parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and subsoil temperature. Analysis showed that during the eclipse period, the turbulence parameters were affected leading to the suppression of the turbulence process, the main dynamic process in the atmospheric boundary layer, while the mean parameters showed variations within the natural variability of the observational period. The spectra of the wind components and temperature indicated decrease in spectral power by one order in magnitude during the eclipse period. The rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy is found to decrease by more than one order during the eclipse period. The stability parameter showed a change from unstable to stable condition during the period of eclipse and back to unstable condition by the end of eclipse
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson R C, Ikeefer D R and Mayers O E 1972 Atmospheric and temperature changes during 7 March 1970 solar eclipse;J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys.,29 583–587
Antonia R A, Chambers A J, Phong-Anant D, Rajagopalan S and Sreenivasan K R 1979 Response of atmospheric surface layer turbulence to a partial solar eclipse;J. Geophys. Res. 4 1689–1692
Arulraj S, Dharmaraj T, Debaje S B, Badgavanth Singh A and Vernekar K G 1998 The dynamics of the surface layer during total solar eclipse 1995;Mausam 49 475–480
Caughey S J and Wyngaard J C 1979 Turbulent kinetic energy in convective conditions;Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 105 231–239
Caughey S J and Palmer S G 1979 The behaviour of the turbulent statistics through the depth of the convective boundary layer and into the stable air of the free atmosphere;Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 105 811–827
Chimonas G and Hines C O 1970 Atmospheric gravity waves induced by a solar eclipse;J. Geophys. Res. 75 875
Dolas P M, Ramachandran R, Sen Gupta K, Patil S M and Jadhav PN 2002 Atmospheric surface layer processes during the total solar eclipse of 11 August 1999;Boundary Layer. Meteorol. 104 445–461
Eaton F D, Hines J R, Hatch W H, Cionco R M, Byers J and Garvey D 1997 Solar eclipse effects observed in the planetary boundary layer over a desert;Boundary-Layer Meteorol. 83 331–346
Jenkins G M and Watts D G 1968 Spectral analysis and its applications (California: Holden Day Inc)
Kaimal J C and Finnigan J J 1994 Atmospheric Boundary Layer flows, their structure and measurement; (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Kunhikrishnan P K and Krishna Murthy B V 1982 Atmospheric pressure perturbations during total solar eclipse on 16 February 1980;Proc. Indian Natn. Sci. Acad. 48A Supplement no 33 238–253
Liu J Y, Hsiao C C, Tsai L C, Liu C H, Kuo F S, Lue H Y, Huang C M 1998 Vertical phase and group velocities of internal gravity waves derived from ionograms during the solar eclipse of 24 October 1995;J. Atmos. Sol. Terr. Phys. 60 1679–1686
Narasimha R, Prabhu A, Narahari Rao K and Prasad C R 1982 Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiment;Proc. of INS A Bull,48 175–186
Praveena K and P K Kunhikrishnan 2002 Some characteristics of atmospheric surface layer over a tropical inland region during south west monsoon period;Atmos. Research 62 11–124
Sethuraman 1982 Dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer during the 1980 total solar eclipse;Proc. of INSA Bull 48 187–195
Singh J 1998 Total solar eclipse of August 11 1999;Bull. Astro.Soc. India 26 717–730
Stull R B 1988 An introduction to boundary layer meteorology (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers)
Winston J K, Radhika R, Nair K N, Sengupta K and Kunhikrishnan P K 1993 On the spectral behaviour of atmospheric boundary layer parameters at Thumba India;Q. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc. 119 187–197
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Krishnan, P., Kunhikrishnan, P.K., Muraleedharan Nair, S. et al. Observations of the atmospheric surface layer parameters over a semi arid region during the solar eclipse of August 11th, 1999. J Earth Syst Sci 113, 353–363 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02716730
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02716730