Implementation and evaluation of the Heffter method to calculate the height of the planetary boundary layer above the ARM Southern Great Plains site

摘要

This paper explores the Heffter Method--an algorithm for finding the height of the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL). The algorithm is applied to the Balloon Borne Sounding System (BBSS) data collected over the Southern Great Plains (SGP) Site of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program. After discussing the successes and shortcomings of the algorithm, the resulting PBL height estimates for dates in May of 2002 are related to CO{sub 2} concentration and wind data. The CO{sub 2} data used is from the Precision Gas System (PGS) while the wind data is a combination of data from the Portable CO{sub 2} Flux System on the SGP site and BBSS.