The role of radiation in an inversion-capped planetary boundary layer

In an inversion-capped planetary boundary layer (PBL), the structure of the turbulent fluxes as well as the height of the inversion are determined by the interaction of turbulent mixing in the PBL, large-scale subsidence above the PBL and radiational cooling. Here the sensitivity of the inversion height and of the turbulent fluxes due to radiational processes is investigated with the aid of a three-layered model for a well mixed PBL. For an example of the Trade-Wind region, the inversion height (i.e., the difference between surface pressure and pressure at the inversion level) varies between 46 and 257 mb and the surface flux of moist static energy between 417 and 99 W m^-2, if the (mean) radiative net flux divergence for both the inversion and the well-mixed layer is changed over a reasonable range of values. None of the parameterization schemes existing in the literature is able to describe these radiational effects in an appropriate way. This is due to the fact that these parameterizations are either not or not flexibly enough linked to the thermodynamical model parameter. Therefore the demand for an adequate parameterization of the radiational influence in a well-mixed PBL under a subsidence inversion is obvious.