Profiler data
The profiler data plotted here are from 915 MHz Boundary Layer Profilers,
and I think they are maintained by NOAA. Information on how they obtain
wind and temperature measurements can be found here
and here.
They are made by Radian Inc.
 |
June 1996 MABL speed, temperature
Each profiler below has a time series for June of:
Top: Virtual temperature (C) vs Z from profiler
Middle: Speed (m/s) vs Z from profiler
Bottom: Air-sea temperature difference from NDBC buoy nearest the profiler
To my eye, the air-sea temperature difference from the NDBC buoys is often correlated with the MABL height: as the MABL is increasingly stable, it is often increasingly shallow. The temperature difference and the MABL height seem to change on the same ~10 day scale.
Newport
Cresent
City
Point
Arena
Bodega
Bay
Fort
Ord
Piedras
Blancas
Goleta
Bay
Scroll down to see each station's temperature profile for June 1996.
|
June virtual temperature (C)
Days of June on x axis, altitude (m) on y axis. The color scale goes from
5 to 30 degrees. The title tells the station and its alitude.
 |
|
| Note that the boundary layer appears to warm as it moves from the northern
to the southern stations, where the diurnal signal is more apparent. A
5-10 day cycle seems to be apparent in the southern stations. Over the
course of June the MABL appears to deepen, then thin abruptly. |
 |
Profiler images for individual days
From Dick Lind's (5064P@VM1.CC.NPS.NAVY.MIL) profiler archive
.
Each plot shows 24 hrs of winds overlaid upon a background of virtual
temperature (Tv). The color bar at the top identifies the temperatures
and colors--the center of a given color is listed in textual form.
Colors are scaled for each plot.
Wind speed is represented with standard meteorological wind barbs:
-
triangular flag = 50 knots =
27 m/s
-
long segment (full barb) = 10 knots
= 5 m/s
-
short segment (1/2 barb) = 5 knots = 2.6 m/s
The orientation of the wind barb represents the wind direction.
\\____ would represent 20 knots (10 m/s)
from the west (270 deg).
The vertical axis is altitude above sea level.
The horizontal axis is
UTC time from right to left.
Newport
06
06
07
08
09
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
25
26
27
28
29
30
Cresent City
06
06
07
08
09
10
12
13
14
15
17
18
19
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Point Arena
06
06
07
08
09
10
12
13
14
18
18
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Bodega Bay
06
06
07
08
09
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
22
23
24
25
26
27
29
30
Fort Ord (to 4km)
06
06
07
08
09
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
20
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Fort Ord (to 1500m) 06
06
07
08
09
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
20
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Ft Ord time series 06
06
07
08
08
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
20
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Piedras Blancas
06
06
07
08
09
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Goleta Bay
06
06
07
08
09
10
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
The data on this page is unpublished. If it is used please cite the
author Kathleen Edwards, the Center for Coastal Studies, and the Coastal
Waves group at Scripps Insitution of Oceanography.
