Four Years of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Height Retrievals Using COSMIC-2 Satellite Data

oleh: Ginés Garnés-Morales, Maria João Costa, Juan Antonio Bravo-Aranda, María José Granados-Muñoz, Vanda Salgueiro, Jesús Abril-Gago, Sol Fernández-Carvelo, Juana Andújar-Maqueda, Antonio Valenzuela, Inmaculada Foyo-Moreno, Francisco Navas-Guzmán, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Daniele Bortoli, Juan Luis Guerrero-Rascado

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2024-05-01

Deskripsi

This work aimed to study the atmospheric boundary layer height (ABLH) from COSMIC-2 refractivity data, endeavoring to refine existing ABLH detection algorithms and scrutinize the resulting spatial and seasonal distributions. Through validation analyses involving different ground-based methodologies (involving data from lidar, ceilometer, microwave radiometers, and radiosondes), the optimal ABLH determination relied on identifying the lowest refractivity gradient negative peak with a magnitude at least <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>τ</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula>% times the minimum refractivity gradient magnitude, where <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>τ</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> is a fitting parameter representing the minimum peak strength relative to the absolute minimum refractivity gradient. Different <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mi>τ</mi></semantics></math></inline-formula> values were derived accounting for the moment of the day (daytime, nighttime, or sunrise/sunset) and the underlying surface (land or sea). Results show discernible relations between ABLH and various features, notably, the land cover and latitude. On average, ABLH is higher over oceans (≈1.5 km), but extreme values (maximums > 2.5 km, and minimums < 1 km) are reached over intertropical lands. Variability is generally subtle over oceans, whereas seasonality and daily evolution are pronounced over continents, with higher ABLHs during daytime and local wintertime (summertime) in intertropical (middle) latitudes.