On stability correction functions over the Indian region under stable conditions

Abstract

Abstract Turbulence observations over an Indian region are used to examine the observational behaviour of stability‐correction functions for momentum ( φ m) and heat ( φ h) under stable conditions within the framework of Monin–Obukhov similarity theory. The φ m is observed to follow the linear functional form in the case of near‐neutral to moderately stable conditions. However, φ m is found to increase with a relatively slower rate as compared with the linear form in strongly stable conditions. A large scatter in φ h is observed with the near‐neutral condition, and they tend to level off in very stable conditions. The optimized co‐efficients appearing in the functional form of φ m suggested by Grachev et al. in 2007 are derived using turbulence observations. The present study recommends the use of these optimized functional forms of φ m and φ h for the estimation of surface fluxes over an Indian region in atmospheric models.

Keywords

• atmospheric surface layer
• Monin–Obukhov similarity theory
• similarity functions
• stable conditions
• turbulence data