Climatology of Planetary Boundary Layer Height-Controlling Meteorological Parameters Over the Korean Peninsula

Shaik Allabakash,Sanghun Lim

doi:10.3390/rs12162571

Abstract

Planetary boundary layer (PBL) height plays a significant role in climate modeling, weather forecasting, air quality prediction, and pollution transport processes. This study examined the climatology of PBL-associated meteorological parameters over the Korean peninsula and surrounding sea using data from the ERA5 dataset produced by the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The data covered the period from 2008 to 2017. The bulk Richardson number methodology was used to determine the PBL height (PBLH). The PBLH obtained from the ERA5 data agreed well with that derived from sounding and Global Positioning System Radio Occultation datasets. Significant diurnal and seasonal variability in PBLH was observed. The PBLH increases from morning to late afternoon, decreases in the evening, and is lowest at night. It is high in the summer, lower in spring and autumn, and lowest in winter. The variability of the PBLH with respect to temperature, relative humidity, surface pressure, wind speed, lower tropospheric stability, soil moisture, and surface fluxes was also examined. The growth of the PBLH was high in the spring and in southern regions due to the low soil moisture content of the surface. A high PBLH pattern is evident in high-elevation regions. Increasing trends of the surface temperature and accordingly PBLH were observed from 2008 to 2017.

Highlights

The planetary boundary layer (PBL) is the lowest portion of the troposphere and is directly influenced by the Earth’s surface forcings over short periods of time (1 h or less) [1,2]
We validated the PBL height (PBLH) values estimated from the ERA data with those derived from the sounding measurements using the bulk Richardson number methodology
This paper presented the climatology of the PBLH over the Korean peninsula for the period from 2008 to 2017

Summary

Introduction

The planetary boundary layer (PBL) is the lowest portion of the troposphere and is directly influenced by the Earth’s surface forcings over short periods of time (1 h or less) [1,2]. Seidel et al [13] described the global climatology of the PBL over a 10-years period using 505 sonde datasets. They used seven methods to compute PBLH from various atmospheric parameters. The PBL climatology over land, ocean, and desert regions was described by von Engeln and Teixeira [15] and Basha et al [12] using ECMWF and GPSRO observations, respectively. These researchers examined the PBL structure over the inter-tropical convergence zone

Methods

Results

Conclusion