The Layered Structure of the Winter Atmospheric Boundary Layer in the Interior of Alaska

Abstract

AbstractThe high-latitude winter atmospheric boundary layer of interior Alaska continually exhibits a complex layered structure as a result of extreme meteorological conditions. In this paper the occurrence of elevated inversions (EI), surface-based inversions (SBI), and stratified layers in the sub-Arctic from January 2000 to December 2009 is reported. This statistical analysis is based on radiosonde observation data from the Fairbanks National Weather Service station complemented by Winter Boundary Layer Experiment observations in the period 2010–11. This study found that SBIs occurred 64% of the time. An SBI occurred in combination with one, two, three, or four simultaneous EIs 84.86%, 48.49%, 21.23%, and 7.99% of the time, respectively, in 2326 total cases. The calculated mean SBI height was 377 m; EIs occurred at 1231, 2125, 2720, and 3125 m, respectively. This analysis was able to discriminate between locally controlled inversion layers and synoptic-dependent inversions and to identify their formation mechanisms. It was found that, in the presence of an SBI layer, the first EI layer formed 35.8% of the time under anticyclonic conditions at a mean height of 1249 m and 22% of the time in warm-air-advection situations at a mean height of 1049 m. The remaining 23.4% resulted from combined synoptic situations, and 18.8% were unclassified.