Some Observations of Vertical Velocity Skewness in the Convective Planetary Boundary Layer

Abstract

Previously published profiles of vertical velocity (w) skewness observed in the convective atmospheric boundary layer show deficits in the upper part of the layer, relative to large eddy simulations designed to apply to highly convective cloudless planetary boundary layers. Thus, we examine w-skewness profiles from data collected in other experiments. We find that skewness profiles in the three highly convective cases with the fewest and smallest clouds agree better with the large eddy simulation results than other profiles presented here and previously; however the deficit at the top of the boundary layer?though smaller?remains. We hypothesize that the remaining deficit for these three cases results from the presence of ?10-km wavelength quasi two-dimensional sinusoidal structures, which have near-zero skewness. The small domain and periodic boundary conditions of a large eddy simulation may not allow such structures to develop fully. Removal of the effects of these structures by counting only flight legs nearly parallel to their axes, for two of the cases, improves agreement between the simulation and observations. We speculate that these structures result from gravity waves interacting with the boundary layer.