Title: Evaluation of inversion strengths and mixing heights during extremely stable atmospheric stratification

Authors: A. Karppinen, S.M. Joffre, J. Kukkonen, P. Bremer

Addresses: Finnish Meteorological Institute, Sahaajankatu 20 E, FIN-00810 Helsinki, Finland. Finnish Meteorological Institute, Sahaajankatu 20 E, FIN-00810 Helsinki, Finland. Finnish Meteorological Institute, Sahaajankatu 20 E, FIN-00810 Helsinki, Finland. Finnish Meteorological Institute, Sahaajankatu 20 E, FIN-00810 Helsinki, Finland

Abstract: We have compiled data from Finnish sounding stations and classified the inversions according to their total depth and the stability of the boundary layer. We studied the persistence of the inversions and the influence of cloudiness and wind speed on the temperature gradient. Additionally, we addressed the specific problems of an urban area, using measurements from a meteorological mast situated in the Helsinki metropolitan area and comparing them to those from the radiosonde profiles at the rural site of Jokioinen. We also compared several common schemes for the height of the stable boundary layer to results from our own Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) method. Based on this analysis a modification to the FMI method was suggested.

Keywords: mixing height; stable boundary layer; surface inversion.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2001.000653

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2001 Vol.16 No.1/2/3/4/5/6, pp.603-613

Published online: 09 Jul 2003 *

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