A study of multiple stable layers in the nocturnal lower atmosphere

The structure of nocturnal inversions in the first 300 m of the atmosphere is analyzed using observational data from the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory (BAO) from March through June 1981. The temperature profiles show more than one inversion layer 41% of the time during the observational period. The vertical distributions of wind speed and moisture also show evidence of stratification during these multiple-layer events. The relation between the radiative cooling rate in time and height, including moisture, and the vertical structure of the multiple layers is calculated. The vertical distribution of eddy kinetic energy and the turbulent vertical fluxes of heat and momentum are also calculated. Turbulent structure in the elevated inversion layers is more complicated than that in the single-layer, stable nocturnal boundary layer. The total heat budget for a multiple-layer case is calculated, and turbulent cooling is found to be negligible relative to radiative cooling and to horizontal advection and/or horizontal divergence of heat flux.