The Effect of Internal Gravity Waves on Fluctuations in Meteorological Parameters of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Abstract

Variations in the intensity of turbulence during wave activity in the stable atmospheric boundary layer over a homogeneous steppe surface have been analyzed. Eight wave activity episodes recorded with a Doppler sodar in August 2015 at the Tsimlyansk Scientific Station of the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics have been studied. These episodes include seven trains of Kelvin–Helmholtz waves and one train of buoyancy waves. Variations in the rms deviation of the vertical wind-velocity component, the temperature structure parameter, and vertical heat and momentum fluxes have been estimated for each episode of wave activity. It has been found that Kelvin–Helmholtz waves slightly affect the intensity of turbulence, while buoyancy waves cause the temperature structure parameter and the vertical fluxes to increase by more than an order of magnitude.