Vandenberg Boundary Layer Survey (VBLS)

the long version

VBLS consisted of a set of three experiments at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. during 1988 to study characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer over complex terrain during sea breeze conditions. This report consists of two sections. The section labelled as Results contains an analysis and interpretation of data. The Appendix section contains details of measurement techniques and a variety of charts and tables summarizing and supplementing the data set. Results indicate that characteristic surface roughness lengths range from .01 to .19 m, not accounting for large scale topography. The surface heat flux was not a strong function of location, and primarily depended on solar insolation as described by time and cloud over. The base was divided into four regions based on topography, and probabilities of boundary layer depth was examined of its dependence upon terrain height and slope, boundary layer stability, and inversion strength. Terrain height was most important. Large variations in boundary layer characteristics near the stratus edge were also observed. (jhd)