Comments on 'MARIAH--A Similarity-Based Method for Determining Wind, Temperature, and Humidity Profile Structure in the Atmospheric Surface Layer'

摘要

Rachele et al. (1995) presented the so-called MARIAH method for determining the surface-layer similarity scaling parameters μ, θ, and q for wind, temperature, and specific humidity. Rachele et al. did not mention what MARIAH stands for but claim that it is a new method that circumvents the more traditional iterative procedure for determining μ, θ, etc. from the measured values of winds, temperatures, etc. at two or more levels. The authors, however, failed to acknowledge similar noniterative methods that have been proposed in the literature and applied routinely in micrometeorology for more than 30 years. For example, Fleagle and Businger (1963) derived expressions [e.g., see their Eqs. (5.26), (5.34), and (5.35)] for momentum, heat, and moisture fluxes that do not require any iterative procedure. Paulson (1967, 1970) proposed a generalized noniterative approach for determining μ, θ, and q from multilevel measurements of mean wind speed V, potential temperature θ, and specific humidity q inthe surface layer. In addition, Businger (1973) discussed this and several other noniterative methods of determining heat and momentum fluxes, which are also reported in more recent textbooks on the subject (e.g., see Oke 1987, appendix A2; Arya 1988, 171-174; Stull 1988, 383-386).