Atmospheric surface layer characteristics with MONTBLEX data

Data obtained from the 30m high MONTBLEX tower installed at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur are described. Data on wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity were recorded during the first week of July 1989 at six levels on the tower. They indicate some of the atmospheric surface layer characteristics. Using two levels of tower data involving wind speed and temperature a profile method was used for computing the surface fluxes of heat and momentum. A method for calculating the surface roughness length using the data was also used to obtain the vertical windspeed profile. The computed wind profile was compared with observations, while the surface roughness length was compared with values obtained by a least square fit. The computed surface fluxes were compared with theoretical values obtained by an energy budget method which uses only wind data at one level. The agreement was reasonably good.