Incorporation of planetary boundary-layer processes into numerical forecasting models

A study has been made of the evolution of the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH), the heat flux, and momentum flux using Clarke's Wangara data for a period of two days and two nights, 33/34–34/35. The observed Wangara data are considered as being an output of the first two internal levels of a general circulation model, at 1000 and 2000 m height. A time-dependent equation has been used to forecast, explicitly, the PBLH for both convectively unstable and stable periods. A comparison is made between observed and computed values whenever possible. In the unstable case, the Deardorff model (1974) has been used for the prediction of the unstable PBLH. Part of the stable case study involved a formulation of a time-dependent model for the prediction of the stable PBLH. The solution obtained from the model compared favourably with the results of a model suggested by Khakimov. Contribution number 382.