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Boundary layer climatology

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Climatology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Science ((EESS))

Near the Earth's surface, the atmosphere interacts with an endless variety of ground surface types, each of which conditions the air above it in a distinctive manner. As the wind moves the air across the edge of a new area of ground, characteristics that were acquired upwind of the edge begin to change in response to new influences. The modified air grows in thickness as the distance downwind of the edge, or fetch, increases. The process continues until a boundary layer a few meters thick is established—the climatology is clearly linked to the nature of adjacent ground (Fig. 1).

FIGURE 1
figure 1_0-387-30749-4_29

Boundary layer development over a field of wheat near Simcoe. Southern Ontario, Canada. The top of the boundary layer begins where the instrument mast in the foreground intersects the zero plane. It marks the transition between air that has been conditioned upwind (solid lines and arrows) and air that has become modified by the wheat (dashed lines). Anemometers may be seen on the left side of each...

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  1. D. S. Munro
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© 1987 Van Nostrand Reinhold

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Munro, D.S. (1987). Boundary layer climatology . In: Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30749-4_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30749-4_29

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-87933-009-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-30749-7

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