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Boundary Layer Climatology

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Encyclopedia of World Climatology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Near the Earth’s surface the wind interacts with an endless variety of ground covers, each of which has distinctive surface properties that condition the air above, imparting to it distinctive characteristics. 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 surface properties. 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, its climate clearly linked to the nature of the surface boundary (Figure B4).

Figure B4
figure 1_1-4020-3266-8_32

Boundary layer development over an instrumented wheat field, Simcoe, Southern Ontario, Canada. A new boundary layer begins where the wind (dotted arrows) encounters the wheat, after passing over upwind surfaces. The top of the boundary layer (broken line) marks the transition between upwind air and boundary layer air, where the degree of...

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Cross-references

  1. Albedo and Reflectivity

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  2. Energy Budget Climatology

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  3. Microclimatology

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  4. Radiation Climatology

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  5. Urban Climatology

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Authors
  1. D. S. Munro
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Indiana State University, Terre Haute, USA

    John E. Oliver

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© 2005 Springer

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Munro, D.S. (2005). Boundary Layer Climatology. In: Oliver, J.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_32

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