On this page are values of the layer Richardson number, calculated to find out how much mixing occurs between the MABL and the free atmosphere above, ie is the MABL a shallow-layer flow? The aircraft profiles are from the Coastal Waves 96 project, flown along the California coast.
Each graph show the location of the profile (red text) from which Ri was calculated.
Red = air temperature (C) The top and bottom of the inversion layer, picked by visual inspection of the profile, are dashed lines
Purple = wind speed (m/s)
Blue = density (g/m^3)
On the lower left are the wind vectors within the inversion layer. Here the Richardson number divides stratification due to the density jump across the inversion by shear mixing over the inversion layer. The shear is defined as the greatest difference between the wind components in the direction of the fastest winds. Winds can reverse direction or veer strongly within the inversion layer.
Please send comments or questions to me at kate@coast.ucsd.edu
