Diagnostic Equations for the Stable Boundary Layer Height: Evaluation and Dimensional Analysis
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The performance of diagnostic equations for the stable boundary layer height h is evaluated with four observational datasets that represent a broad range of latitudes, land use, and surface roughness. In addition, large-eddy simulation results are used. Special care is given to data-quality selection. The diagnostic equations evaluated are so-called multilimit equations as derived by Zilitinkevich and coworkers in a number of papers. It appears that these equations show a serious negative bias, especially for h < 100 m, and it was found that the parameters involved could not be determined uniquely with calibration. As an alternative, dimensional analysis is used here to derive a formulation for h that is more robust. The formulation depends on the surface friction velocity u*, surface buoyancy flux Bs, Coriolis parameter, and the free-flow stability N. The relevance of the Coriolis parameter for the boundary layer height estimation in practice is also discussed. If the Coriolis parameter is ignored, two major regimes are found: h ∼ u*/N for weakly stable conditions and h ∼ (|Bs|/N 3)1/2 for moderate to very stable conditions.
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In models that use a vertical prescription of the diffusion coefficient (K z ), an explicit formulation for the MLH is required to model the vertical diffusion of pollutants.
“In models that use a vertical prescription of the diffusion coefficient (K z ), an explicit formulation for the MLH is required to model the vertical diffusion of pollutants (Steeneveld et al., 2007;Vickers and Mahrt, 2004).”
From In situ vertical observations of the layered structure of air pollution in a continental high-latitude urban boundary layer during winter (2025) · cites this paper as Steeneveld et al., 2007
The available passages are bibliographic metadata and keywords (labeled Abstract, page unavailable). Searches for pollutants, vertical diffusion, Kz, and mixing-height formulations found no passage addressing whether models with a vertically prescribed diffusion coefficient require an explicit mixing-layer-height formulation. (LLM, conf=0.72)
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References 68 · Cited by 76
- Authors
- Steeneveld, G. J., van de Wiel, B. J. H., & Holtslag, A. A. M.
- Affiliations
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
- Meteorology and Air Quality Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology
- Publisher
- American Meteorological Society
- Published
- 2007-02-01
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 212-225
- ISSN
- 1558-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-8432
- OpenAlex
- W2172305432
- Cited by
- 76
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2025: 6 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 2.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- research.wur.nl
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (publishedVersion)
- TU/e Research Portal (publishedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion)
- TU/e Research Portal (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Computational Mechanics › Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Wind and Air Flow Studies
- Keywords
- dimensional analysis, friction velocity, buoyancy flux, Coriolis parameter, negative bias, boundary layer height estimation, large eddy simulation
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