Richard J.A.M. Stevens

Professor at the University of Twente

Wind energy · Turbulence · Environmental flows

Publication 102 · Atmospheric turbulence

Vertical structure of conventionally neutral atmospheric boundary layers

L. Liu, R.J.A.M. Stevens, Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119 (22), e2119369119 (2022).

Read the article Open-access version (arXiv manuscript)

Main finding

An analytical component-profile model connects rotation and capping-inversion effects to wind turning and stresses in conventionally neutral boundary layers. It agrees visually with inherited LES and selected field profiles within a declared asymptotic error, but is not an independent replication, unique first-principles closure or universal atmospheric profile.

Wind speed deficits and shear stresses against height with field measurements overlaid
How to read the figure. Streamwise (A) and spanwise (B) deficits from the geostrophic wind, and the corresponding turbulent shear stresses (C, D), through a conventionally neutral boundary layer. Curves are the paper's component-profile construction, symbols are field measurements from several campaigns. The spanwise deficit in (B) is not zero: rotation turns the wind with height even when the surface heat flux is near zero. Agreement with these profiles is not an independent numerical replication or a validated universal profile. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 5. L. Liu and R.J.A.M. Stevens (2022). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Rotation and the stable cap turn wind with height even when surface heat flux is nearly zero.

Research context

Geostrophic drag law for conventionally neutral atmospheric boundary layers… (read the finding) supplies the height and GDL parameterizations, Figure 2 points, and Figure 5 simulation circles. Universal Wind Profile for Conventionally Neutral Atmospheric Boundary Layers (read the finding) supplies the universal heat-flux basis, epsilon=0.12, and all six LES cases used in Figures 3–4. These dependencies are explicit in the PNAS text.

View in the complete publication list Related atmospheric boundary layer research