HR: 16:20h
AN: U24A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: The Planetary Boundary Layer Structure of the North American Monsoon and the Role of Land-Atmosphere Interactions as Depicted in Models and Observations
AU: * Kelly, P
EM: pkelly@rsmas.miami.edu
AF: University of Miami-RSMAS, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, United States
AU: Mapes, B
EM: bmapes@rsmas.miami.edu
AF: University of Miami-RSMAS, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, United States
AB: Vertical exchanges of heat, moisture, and momentum between the earth's surface and atmosphere directly affect the structure and evolution of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) whose stability profile determines the likelihood of convection and precipitation. Convective towers in turn have important radiative impacts and feedback on the energy budget of the surface. The complex interaction between the surface and the atmosphere involves physical processes that operate on a variety of scales whose quantitative importance is not well understood; coupled with the varied landscape of the region, this creates a particular difficult challenge in modeling the North American Monsoon. Using high-resolution observational data from the North American Monsoon Experiment supplemented with North American Regional Reanalysis data and output from several regional and global models of NAMAP2, this study examines the PBL structure of the monsoon region and illustrates model discrepancies in the representation of land-atmosphere processes important in determining the energy budget of the monsoon.
DE: 3307 Boundary layer processes
DE: 3322 Land/atmosphere interactions (1218, 1631, 1843)
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly