Impact of stability on the atmospheric boundary layer

摘要

We present an investigation of the impact of stability in a coastal environment's wind resource estimate. The site, near Cape Hatteras, is interesting because of its proximity to an open sound condition to the north and west, as well as its oceanic boundary to the south and east. Early exploration of wind profiles collected during 2012???2014 from the surface to 200 m with a Scintec XFAS SODAR wind profiler revealed distinct characteristics unique to winds coming from the sound, as compared to those coming from the ocean. ???Steady-state??? cases were defined in order to examine time periods where the winds might be more readily compared with simple theory. While wind profile cases from the sound exhibited low level shear that reached a constant wind speed within instrument height, the oceanic profiles were characterized by shears higher in both magnitude and elevation that had not yet reached their maximum at 200 m. Although this feature of the oceanic profiles is typical of a stably stratified wind regime, further study of the environmental conditions affecting each case was necessary to determine the specific impact of the stability on the profiles.