Linking Boundary Layer Circulations and Surface Processes during FIFE 89. Part II: Maintenance of Secondary Circulation

Abstract

Abstract Land–atmosphere interactions are examined for three different synoptic situations during a 21-day period in the course of the First ISLSCP (International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project) Field Experiment 1989 to better understand the relationship between biophysical feedback processes, boundary layer structure, and circulations in the boundary layer. The objective is to understand how the secondary circulation discussed in Part I of this paper was able to sustain itself throughout the duration of the 1989 intensive field campaign. The study is based on diagnostic analysis of measurements obtained from a network of surface meteorology and energy budget stations, augmented with high vertical resolution radiosonde measurements. Shallow convection associated with an undisturbed boundary layer situation and rainfall occurring during two different disturbed boundary layer situations—one associated with a surface trough, the other with the passage of a cold front—led to markedly different imp...