A comparison between transilient turbulence theory and the exchange coefficient model approaches

The transilient turbulence model of Stull and Driedonks (1987) and the exchange coefficient model of Bougeault and Lacarrère (1989) are intercompared on four convective days of the HAPEX-MOBILHY experiment. We show that the numerical formulations of the models are very close to each other, despite their totally different theoretical backgrounds. Both models describe the mixing effect of the turbulence via matrices having the same general characteristics. The results of the models are also found to be very similar in general, although the transilient approach requires more computations. Some systematic differences are noted and discussed in detail. We argue that similar work should be conducted on non-convective cases before deciding on the superiority of one or the other approach.