Identification of atmospheric boundary layer height over a tropical

station using high-resolution radiosonde refractivity profiles:

Comparison with GPS radio occultation measurements
Ghouse Basha
1
and M. Venkat Ratnam
1
Received 31 December 2008; revised 1 April 2009; accepted 29 May 2009; published 20 August 2009.
[1] In this study, long-term (2.5 years) observations of a high vertical resolution
radiosonde are used for the first time to identify the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL)
height over a tropical station, Gadanki (13.5N, 79.2E). An alternative method of
detecting ABL height from refractivity (N) profiles is proposed, which includes both
temperature and water vapor information, and several advantages were found. The
identified height using N is compared with that detected by traditional methods like
potential, virtual potential temperature, and mixing ratio during different background
meteorological conditions. Very good correlations in all weather conditions indicate that N
can also be used as an indicator for detecting the ABL height. The ABL height thus
obtained is compared with independent measurements of N from the Constellation
Observing System for Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate GPS radio occultation (RO),
and very good correlation is found between the two. ABL height is found to be higher
during premonsoon, followed by monsoon and postmonsoon, and is minimum in winter.
In addition, radiosondes launched four times a day during different seasons have been
used to study the diurnal variation. These results were compared with GPS RO data
collected during different times in a day for a given season, and very strong diurnal
variation was found. For studying the global distribution of ABL height from GPS RO
data, it is suggested that one considers the GPS RO data for a fixed time or range of time
(as RO data are very sparse in tropical regions) and the profiles reaching down to 0.5 km,
particularly during nighttime.
Citation: Basha, G., and M. V. Ratnam (2009), Identification of atmospheric boundary layer height over a tropical station using high-
resolution radiosonde refractivity profiles: Comparison with GPS radio occultation measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D16101,
doi:10.1029/2008JD011692.
1. Introduction
[2] The atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) is the lowest
layer of the troposphere that is directly influenced by the
Earths surface [Garratt, 1992]. Substances emitted into the
ABL are gradually dispersed horizontally and vertically
through the action of turbulence and finally become mixed
over this layer, and it has become essential to monitor
ABL height on a day-to-day basis for air pollution meteo-
rology [Seibert et al., 2000]. It is important to determine the
ABL height for understanding the transport process in the
troposphere, weather prediction, and climate monitoring
[Garratt, 1993].
[3] Several remote sounding systems like light detection
and ranging (lidar), sound detection and ranging (sodar),
radio acoustic sounding system (RASS), and wind profiling
radars are used to determine the ABL height. Lidars allow
the direct measurement of aerosols and trace gas profiles,
since the top of the well-mixed layer is often associated with
strong gradients of aerosols concentration. This strong
gradient in aerosols is taken to mark the top of the ABL.
However, interpreting aerosol data from lidars is not
straightforward because the detected aerosol profile is not
always the result of ongoing vertical mixing but may
originate from advection transport [Russell et al., 1974].
[4] In the case of sodar [Beyrich, 1997] the maximum
detectable height is limited to about 1 km and is also
sensitive to environmental noise. Wind profiling radar can
provide a direct and continuous measurement of convective
boundary layer height [Kumar and Jain, 2006] but have
limited height and range resolution, and also the demarca-
tion of ABL height may not be clear at all times in the wind
profile. RASS [Gorsdorf and Lehmann, 2000] can provide
virtual temperature and requires information on humidity
profile for identifying ABL height from it.
[5] ABL height can be determined from direct measuring
techniques like radiosondes and tethered balloons. Tethered
balloons can provide information on turbulence and trace
gas concentration profile, but are limited to field campaigns
only and the range is limited to below 500 m. In case of
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 114, D16101, doi:10.1029/2008JD011692, 2009
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D16101 1 of 11
radiosonde, the ABL height can be determined by temper-
ature inversions, sharp decreases in humidity, wind speed,
and rate of ascent [Johansson and Bergstro, 2005]. A clear
jump in ascent rate at the ABL height in case of strong
turbulence was reported. Several studies have shown its
ability to determine the height of the ABL [Sempreviva and
Gryning, 2000; Gryning and Batchvarova, 2002; Johansson
et al., 2001]. Although many definitions exists to determine
the ABL height using radiosonde, the most common way to
determine the ABL height is from potential temperature (q),
virtual potential temperature (q
V
), and/or mixing ratio (r).
[6] Seibert et al. [2000] and Hennemuth and Lammert
[2006] have shown that the parcel method is the most
reliable method for deriving the convective boundary layer
(CBL) height. This method relies on determining the height
of the intersection of q with dry adiabatic ascent starting at
near-surface temperature. This method is generally applied
during stable conditions. The gradient Richardson method
identifies a layer in which turbulent mixing can occur and
ABL height can be specified to be the height at which the
Richardson number exceeds critical value.
[7] The GPS radio occultation (RO) technique [Kursinski
et al., 1997] provides a new method of remote sensing of
boundary layer height. The ABL height from this technique
can be detected from cutoff height [von Engeln et al., 2005]
defined in the full-spectrum inversion (FSI) method [Jensen
et al., 2003], radio refractivity [Sokolovskiy et al., 2006],
and directly from a bending angle (BA) profile [Sokolovskiy
et al., 2007]. Although detection of ABL height using a BA
profile have the simplest errors but are most complicated in
interpretation. Conversely, the retrieved temperature and
humidity profiles are easy to identify ABL height but have
large errors. In this study we show that the detection of ABL
height from refractivity is an easy approach that includes
both temperature and humidity information.
[8] The intention of the present study is to identify the
height of the ABL using a parameter, namely, radio refrac-
tivity (N), which involves both temperature and water vapor
information using radiosonde. Using the N profile we have
shown that it is possible to determine the ABL height easily
in different background conditions. This study is first of its
kind in three ways. For the first time long-term high-
resolution radiosonde data are used to study the seasonal
variation of ABL height over the Indian subcontinent.
Second, we propose an alternative method to identify the
ABL height directly from the refractivity profile of radio-
sonde which can be used to compare with ABL height from
independent measurements from GPS RO. Finally, several
precautions are advised while studying the global distribu-
tion of ABL height using GPS RO data.
2. Database
2.1. Radiosonde Data
[9] High-resolution ground-based radiosonde (Vaisala
RS-80, RS-92, Meisei RS-01GII) balloons were launched
almost regularly over Gadanki (13.5N, 79.2E) from 19
April 2006 to 31 August 2008. Most of these radiosondes
were launched around 1200 UT (1730 LT). In addition,
radiosondes were launched four times a day during different
seasons. In total, 744 profiles of temperature (T), pressure
(P), relative humidity (RH), and horizontal wind are
obtained in different seasons. Major data gap exists during
the month of December 2006 (only six balloons were
launched) and April 2007. All the atmospheric parameters
were collected with a height resolution of 2530 m (sam-
pled at 5-s intervals) from RS-80 type (April 2006 to March
2007) and 10 m (sampled at 2-s intervals) from RS-92 (from
17 July 2006 to 31 August 2006) and Meisei (May 2007 to
August 2008). Note that there is no difference in the
atmospheric parameters retrieved from different receivers
used in the present study. Later, the entire data set has been
interpolated to 100 m so as to remove outliers arising from
random motions of the balloon. Quality checks were then
applied to remove further outliers arising due to various
reasons following Tsuda et al. [2006] to ensure high quality
in the data, which otherwise contaminate the entire results.
2.2. GPS Radio Occultation Data
[10] The six-satellite Constellation Observing System for
Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) GPS RO
[Kursinski et al., 1997] provides an opportunity to measure
ABL height globally. There were total 431 overpasses
within 2 latitude and longitude from Gadanki during July
2006 to August 2008. A further time constraint of 2 h is
kept for selecting overpasses over Gadanki so as to compare
the ABL height detected by radiosonde which has reduced
the number of overpasses to 95.
2.3. Satellite Observations of Equivalent Blackbody
Brightness Temperature and Other Supporting Data
Sets
[11] We also make use of the simultaneous hourly cloud
top equivalent blackbody temperature, called brightness
temperature (BT) from Multifunctional Transport Satellite
(MTSAT-1R) data provided by the Japan Meteorological
Agency (JMA) through Kochi University, Japan. Data were
recorded in longitude/latitude grids of 0.05 between 11
15N latitude and 7781E longitude covering the location
of Gadanki. The equivalent blackbody temperature data,
averaged from the pixel data, are used to examine the
characteristics of mesoscale cloud systems. These data have
been used as a proxy for tropical deep convection.
[12] Besides this, we have also made use of rainfall data
collected from a colocated optical rain gauge (ORG). It
provides accurate measurement of precipitation with a
dynamic range of 0.1500 mm h
1
. In addition, sky
conditions (available from September 2007) monitored
(visually) during launch of the radiosonde are also used to
study ABL characteristics during different background
conditions.
3. Background Conditions
3.1. Topographical Conditions
[13] Before going into the details of the observed results,
the background topography and atmospheric conditions
over the study region are presented, which will be useful
while interpreting the ABL characteristics. Radiosondes
were launched regularly from Gadanki, which is in a rural
environment about 120 km northwest of Chennai (Madras)
on the east coast of the southern peninsula. The location
and topography of the Indian subcontinent are shown in
Figure 1a. More detailed topography of Gadanki and the
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surrounding places are shown in Figure 1b. It can be seen
that the station is surrounded by hills with a maximum
height of 350400 m, and the station is at a height of 375 m
above mean sea level (hereinafter all heights are mentioned
above mean sea level only). The local topography is
complex, with a number of small hillocks and an irregular
mix of agriculture and small population centers. However,
there also exists a high hill of 1 km about 30 km from the
radar site in the northeast direction. The influence of the sea
on the east may not be present at the Gadanki location as it
is located far inland.
3.2. Weather Conditions
[14] In the Indian subcontinent, mesoscale phenomena
dominate, and they include convective activity. On the basis
of the meteorological conditions over the observational sites,
seasons are divided into winter (December February),
summer/premonsoon (MarchMay), monsoon/progressing
southwest monsoon (JuneAugust), and postmonsoon/
retreating southwest (SW) monsoon (SeptemberNovember).
The onset of the monsoon will be about the first or second
week of June, and withdrawal will be during the last week of
October. Besides these monsoons, a peculiar monsoon due to
northeast circulation (northeast monsoon) will occur over the
southern part of India. Normal date of onset of these
monsoons is about the middle of October, with a deviation
of about a week on either side.
3.3. Meteorological Conditions
[15] In this section, background meteorological condi-
tions prevailing over the observational site are briefly
discussed. The monthly mean contours of zonal, meridional
velocities, virtual potential temperature, and relative humid-
ity are shown in Figures 2a2d. Monthly mean zonal
velocities were westerly during winter (with a maximum
velocity of 68 m/s), and premonsoon (with a maximum
velocity of 12 m/s), with some variation during transition
from one season to the other. During monsoon season, low-
level westerlies exist. In general, meridional velocities are
very small and are southward in all the seasons, except
during monsoon, with peak velocity of 5 m/s. Virtual
potential temperature show significant variations up to the
height of about 3.5 km. In general, high and low virtual
potential temperatures can be noticed during premonsoon
and winter months, respectively. There exist significant
variations in the relative humidity from winter to monsoon
seasons. Humidity is very low (about 50%) during winter,
and it occurs only in the first few kilometers and almost
negligible above it. However, during other seasons, partic-
ularly in monsoon season, high humidity concentrations
(6070%) are noticed up to the middle troposphere. A
clear annual oscillation with some interannual variations
can be seen in all of the above mentioned meteorological
parameters.
[16] Daily accumulated rainfall obtained from the colo-
cated ORG is shown in Figure 2e. Mostly rainfall at this
Figure 1. (a) Topography of Indian subcontinent plotted using global 30 arc sec elevation data provided
by the EROS Data Center, National Mapping Division, U.S. Geological Survey. The location of Gadanki
is shown with a circle. (b) High-resolution topography mapping within a 50-km radius from Gadanki.
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location occurs due to both southwest and northeast mon-
soon between June and December, although some spells of
rainfall can also be noticed during other months. Daily
mean satellite brightness temperature is shown in Figure 2f.
During evening times, mesoscale convection dominates at
this location particularly during premonsoon and postmon-
soon months (not shown). All of this information has been
used to study the ABL characteristics during different
background conditions in section 5.
4. Methodology to Identify Atmospheric
Boundary Layer Height From Refractivity Profile
[17] Earlier studies have shown that ABL height can be
determined traditionally either from temperature inversions
(potential temperature (q), virtual potential temperature
(q
V
)), or water vapor (mixing ratio (r)) from radiosonde
measurements in tropical latitudes. Figure 3 shows typical
profiles of q, q
V
, and r observed on 6 July 2006 (monsoon
case) and on 24 February 2007 (winter case). Note that
inversion in q, q
V
, and sharp reduction in r occur at a height
of 3 km (1.9 km) during the monsoon (winter) case. For
easy identification of sharp changes taking place near ABL
height, we have used the gradient of each parameter which
is plotted in Figures 3d and 3h for the monsoon and winter
cases, respectively. We have taken the negative maximum
gradient in r and positive maximum gradient in q, q
V
for
identifying ABL height. Good agreement between the
heights of ABL observed by q, q
V
and r can be seen.
Although q
V
contains both temperature and water vapor
information, we have used refractivity (N), which also
contains both temperature and water vapor information for
identifying ABL height, and found several advantages
over q, q
V
, or r profiles alone which will be discussed in
section 6.
[18] It is well known that N depends mainly on temper-
ature and water vapor gradients in the lower troposphere
and is given by the following equation [Thayer, 1974]:
N n 1 10
6
77:6
p
T
3:73 10
5
e
T
2
; 1
where N is refractivity, n is the refractive index, p is
atmospheric pressure in hPa, T is atmospheric temperature
in kelvins, and e is water vapor partial pressure in hPa. It is
to be noted that the ionospheric term is not shown here as it
is irrelevant for the studies below 5 km. The profiles of N
observed on the same days mentioned above are depicted in
Figures 3c and 3g. Note that a sharp change also occurred in
the N profile near inversion in q, q
V
, and reduction in r. ABL
height from N is around 3 km (1.9 km) during monsoon
case (winter case), exactly same as that observed by q, q
V
,
and r profiles. Note that gradient in N is significantly higher
when compared with q, q
V
, and r and thus allows us to
detect ABL height even in weak inversion cases. We have
extensively compared in the following the ABL heights
determined from q, q
V
, r, and N profiles.
5. Results and Discussion
5.1. Statistical Comparison Between ABL Heights
Derived From q, q
V
, r, and N Profiles
[19] In order to check how good different techniques
compare, we have separated the radiosondes launched only
at 1730 LT, which comes to 613 profiles. Profiles are further
separated according to the background weather conditions
prevailing during the launch and are monitored on visual
basis just before, during, and after the radiosonde flight; this
information is available since September 2007. On the basis
of background weather conditions, launches are further
classified to clear-sky (188), cloudy (75), and rainy (30)
cases. Out of 613 radiosonde profiles available at 1730 LT,
in 10 cases no sharp gradients are found and six cases are
rejected due to bad data quality; hence a total of 16 cases
were not considered for further analysis. In order to see the
correlation between the heights of ABL detected from q, q
V
,
and r, a statistical comparison between them has been made
and is shown in Figures 4a4c. Excellent correlation (R =
0.92) can be found between q and q
V
, as expected (since
both have almost the same information except for having r
information in the latter case), with standard deviation (SD)
of only 0.33 km. Good correlation between the height
detected by q and r and q
V
and r is found, although SD is
slightly more than the first case, suggesting that there exists
excellent correlation between the traditional methods.
[20] A statistical comparison between ABL height
derived from N and q, N and q
V
, and N and r is shown
Figure 2. Time-height section of monthly mean (a) zonal
velocity, (b) meridional velocity, (c) virtual potential
temperature, and (d) relative humidity observed during
April 2006 to August 2008 over Gadanki using radiosonde
observations. (e) Daily accumulated rainfall recorded at
Gadanki using colocated optical rain gauge, and (f) daily
mean brightness temperature observed at Gadanki (5 5 km
grid).
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Figure 4. Scatterplots showing the correlation of atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) height (above
mean sea level) determined from (a) q and q
V
, (b) q and r, (c) q
V
and r, (d) q and radiosonde N, (e) q
V
and
radiosonde N, and (f) r and radiosonde N. (gi) Same as Figures 4d4f, but while using only significant
values. Their respective correlation coefficients (R), standard deviations (SD), and numbers of points (N)
are given on top. The red line shows the best fit. All the data correspond to 1200 UT (1730 LT) only.
Figure 3. Typical profiles of (a) potential temperature (q) and virtual potential temperature (q
V
),
(b) mixing ratio (r), (c) refractivity (N), and (d) their respective derivatives observed on 6 July 2006
(monsoon case). (eh) Same as Figures 3a3d, but observed on 24 February 2007 (winter case). Note that
the axes for the derivatives of q, q
V
, and r are given at the top.
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in Figures 4d4f, respectively. Note that the good
correlation is again seen (Figure 4d) between the pro-
posed new method (N) and the traditional method (q),
suggesting that the proposed method can also be used as
an indicator to identify the ABL height. Interestingly,
relatively less correlation (0.76) between N and q
V
can
be noticed (Figure 4e). This reveals that although both N
and q
V
have information on temperature and water
vapor, their individual contributions are different. We
further studied this issue and will discuss it in section
6. Note that excellent correlation is seen between N and
r with the smallest SD, suggesting that contribution of
water vapor will be more to N than T (or q,) in the
lower troposphere. Note that ABL height is detected
with different parameters for all the profiles from their
gradients, however small in magnitude they are. Further
analysis is made by considering the significant gradients
only; that is, enhancement in q, q
V
should be more than
0.5 K, and reduction in r (N) should be more than 0.5
g/kg (2.5 N units). While doing so a number of profiles
reduced to 558. In this case, correlation increased
significantly (Figures 4g4i) to 0.99 (SD = 0.09), 0.99
(SD = 0.09), and 0.99 (SD = 0.03) between q, q
V
, r, and
N, respectively.
[21] A study of the correlation between the traditional and
proposed method during different background meteorolog-
ical conditions (clear sky, cloudy, and rainy) was also done,
and the results are shown in Figure 5. A good correlation
between N and q and N and q
V
can be seen during rainy
conditions followed by clear-sky conditions. Note that SD is
smaller in the case of rainy conditions than in the clear-sky
conditions. Correlation is slightly less during cloudy con-
ditions with more SD. During cloudy (rainy) conditions, 8%
(16%), 12% (20%), 33% (13%), 17% (16%), and 2% (6%)
profiles have ABL heights between 0 and 1 km, 23 km,
34 km, and 45 km, respectively. In general, excellent
correlation during different background conditions can be
seen between N and traditional methods, suggesting that N
can also be used as a parameter to detect ABL height
accurately. Interestingly, although both N and q
V
have
information on temperature and water vapor together, their
correlation is less particularly during cloudy conditions.
5.2. Daily, Monthly, and Seasonal Variation of ABL
Height
[22] For getting monthly and seasonal variation of ABL
height, ABL height on each day is detected separately from
each parameter and averaged over a month, which is shown
Figure 6. Figure 6a shows monthly mean variation of ABL
height along with SD observed during April 2006 to August
2008 using q, q
V
, r, and N. Standard deviation for a given
month represents the day-to-day variability of ABL height
in that month. Number of days used for each month
depicted in Figure 6b shows that on average more than
Figure 5. Scatterplots showing the correlation of ABL height (above mean sea level) determined from
(a) q and radiosonde N, (b) q
V
and radiosonde N, and (c) r and radiosonde N observed during clear-sky
conditions. (df) Same as Figures 5a5c, but for cloudy conditions. (gi) Same as Figures 5a5c, but
for rainy conditions, respectively. Their respective correlation coefficients (R), standard deviations (SD),
and numbers of points (N) are given on top. The red line shows the best fit.
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25 profiles have been obtained. Note that large SD is
observed in the height detected during premonsoons and
postmonsoons followed by monsoon and minimum in
winter months. Similar month-to-month variability is ob-
served in all the parameters. It can be clearly noticed that
ABL height is maximum (minimum) during MarchMay
(December February). Details of ABL height and ampli-
tude variations in q, q
V
, r, and N are shown in section 5.3.
Figure 6. (a) Monthly mean variation of ABL height (above mean sea level) derived from q, q
V
, r, and N
from April 2006 to August 2008. The vertical bars show the standard deviation in a given month
representing the day-to-day variability in that month. (b) Histogram showing the number of profiles used
each month. All the data correspond to 1200 UT.
Figure 7. Histograms showing the distribution of percentage occurrence of ABL (above mean sea level)
at different heights observed from q, q
V
, r, and N during (a) March-April-May (premonsoon), (b) June-
July-August (monsoon), (c) September-October-November (postmonsoon), and (d) December-January-
February (winter) integrated over 2 years. (eh) Same as Figures 7a7d, but showing the distribution of
enhancement in q and q
V
and the reduction in r and N. All the data correspond to 1200 UT.
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5.3. Statistics of ABL Height
[23] Histograms showing the distribution of ABL height
detected from q, q
V
, r, and N sorted according to the season
observed during April 2006 to August 2008 are shown in
Figures 7a7d. Most striking feature to be noticed is that
ABL height is higher during premonsoon (3.05 0.27 km)
followed by monsoon (2.94 0.08 km), postmonsoon
(2.75 0.19), and minimum in winter (2.22 0.38 km).
It is worth mentioning that there are few case studies
[Praveena et al., 2003] carried out over this station using
the lower atmospheric wind profiler (LAWP). During pre-
monsoon the ABL height observed (51 days) from LAWP is
2.1 km 0.4 km, which is within the range (24 km)
observed in the present study. More or less similar features
can be noticed in all the parameters; that is, either less or
more height is detected in maximum cases by considering
any parameter. ABL heights between 0 (ideally 0.5 km) and
1 km exist for less than 2% irrespective of the season. Note
that for these statistics, data collected only at 1730 LT are
considered. However, percentage occurrence (PO) of
ABL height between 0 and 1 km will be high for 1800
and 0600 UT, which will be shown in detail in section 5.5.
During winter, percentage occurrence of ABL height at
higher heights (45 km) is very small unlike other seasons.
For 19 cases, ABL height is detected above 5 km, which are
not considered for the present analysis. An interesting
feature is that occurrence of ABL height detected from N
is closely following by that detected by q, q
V
, and r,
suggesting that N is also a suitable parameter to detect the
ABL height preciously. In latter parameter (N), an additional
advantage is that we can verify with independent observa-
tions of GPS RO measurements, which are available globally.
[24] The distribution of enhancement in q and q
V
and
reduction in r and N near the ABL height is also estimated
for different seasons and is shown in Figures 7e7h. This
exercise will bring out the most significant enhancements to
be considered in future analysis. Note that in general, there
is an enhancement of about 5 K/100 m in q and q
V
, and a
reduction about 10 g/kg per 100 m and 25 N units per 100 m
in r and N in all the seasons, respectively. It is important to
mention here that these statistics were constructed without
putting any restrictions on the enhancement/reduction in the
amplitudes. Note that the number of cases having the q and
q
V
enhancements within 01 K and the reduction in r and
N within 02 g/kg and 2.5 N units are very high. For
getting reliable statistics, we have considered the ABL
height if all of the q, q
V
are more than 0.5 K (more than
the accuracy of the measurement) and reduction in r and N
is more than 0.5 g/kg and 2.5 N units. Although the overall
statistics remain the same, it is always better to talk above
the accuracies of measurements.
5.4. Comparison of ABL Height With GPS RO
Measurements
[25] From the above, it is clear that ABL height can be
detected precisely from the profile of N from radiosonde
measurements. In order to check how good it is able to
detect, it is also compared with traditional methods like q,
q
V
, and r in different background conditions. In this section
the ABL height detected with N from radiosonde is com-
pared with independent observations from COSMIC GPS
RO. As mentioned in section 2, the overpasses of COSMIC
over Gadanki during July 2006 to August 2008 within 2
latitude and longitude and 2 h separation were kept so as to
compare the ABL height detected by radiosonde. The total
number of overpasses was 95, out of which 84 profiles have
reached below 5 km and three profiles were rejected due to
bad quality in corresponding radiosonde data. Thus a total
of 81 profiles have been used for comparing with the ABL
height detected by radiosonde.
[26] Figure 8a shows typical profiles of N observed by
radiosonde and COSMIC GPS RO on 19 January 2007. The
number of profiles reaching down to 0.5 km is also shown
in Figure 8a. Note the sharp changes that are found near
2 km in both the profiles, which is clearer from Figure 8b
showing the profiles of gradients in N. A very good
comparison can be seen between the ABL height detected
by radiosonde-calculated N and COSMIC GPS RO
measured N. Statistical analysis has been further per-
formed with the ABL height detected from q, q
V
, r, and
Figure 8. (a) Typical example showing the comparison of
refractivity (N) profiles between the Constellation Obser-
ving System for Meteorology Ionosphere and Climate
(COSMIC) and radiosonde launched from Gadanki on 19
January 2007. The number of profiles reaching down to the
surface in the case of COSMIC is also shown (with axis on
top). (b) Their corresponding gradients used to detect the
height of ABL (above mean sea level). Scatterplots showing
the correlation of ABL height determined from (c) radiosonde
q and COSMIC N, (d) q
V
and COSMIC N, (e) r and COSMIC
N, and (f) N and COSMIC N. Their respective correlation
coefficients (R), standard deviations (SD), and numbers of
points (N) are given. The red line shows the best fit.
D16101 BASHA AND RATNAM: ABL HEIGHT OVER A TROPICAL STATION
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D16101
N from radiosonde with that detected from COSMIC GPS
RO and is shown in Figures 8c8f, respectively. In spite
of completely different techniques, very good correlations
(R 0.86) with mean difference of 0.41 km and RMS
error of 0.005 can be noticed from all the comparisons,
although a slightly higher correlation (R = 0.90) is
noticed between ABL height detected from q (radiosonde)
and N (COSMIC GPS RO). This suggests that ABL
height can be detected preciously with the profiles of N.
5.5. Diurnal Variation of ABL Height
[27] In order to study the diurnal variation in ABL height,
radiosonde launched four times a day during different
seasons has been considered. Similar criteria mentioned in
section 4 were followed for detecting ABL height from
various parameters (q, q
V
, r, and N). Figures 9a9d show the
diurnal variation of ABL height detected during premon-
soon, monsoon, postmonsoon, and winter from q, q
V
, r, and
N by radiosonde observations, respectively. A clear diurnal
variation with higher and lower heights during 1200 UT
(1730 LT) and 0000 UT/1800 UT (0530/2330 LT) can be
noticed in all the seasons. However, large diurnal variation
(low to high) can be noticed in premonsoon and postmon-
soon followed by monsoon and minimum diurnal variation
in winter. Although all the parameters show more or less
similar ABL heights, during monsoon season they differ
particularly during 1200 UT where slightly higher heights
can be noticed from q and q
V
than from r and N. Often
during nighttime a few inversions are noticed (figure not
shown) between 0.8 km and 2 km in N profile but not in
either q or q
V
. For our analysis, only the first inversion from
ground is considered which is the stable boundary layer
(nighttime ABL); we ignored the second inversion, which is
a residual layer. This reveals that we are able to distinguish
different layers in the ABL using profiles of N.
[28] Similar analysis has been done using COSMIC GPS
RO overpasses over Gadanki. As mentioned in section 2,
there were a total of 431 overpasses within 2 latitude and
longitude from Gadanki during July 2006 to August 2008.
All these overpasses were sorted according to the time 0000
UT3 h, 0600UT3 h, 1200UT3 h, and 1800UT3 h for
each season and are superimposed in Figure 9. A very good
correlation in the ABL heights can be noticed even in the
diurnal variation between two independent techniques.
[29] It is worth mentioning a few important findings in
COSMIC GPS RO measurements from Figure 9. First of all,
note that ABL height can reach as high as 4 km and as low
as 0.8 km. Global distribution of ABL height provided by
previous investigators [von Engeln et al., 2005] has fixed
the altitude at 3 km, which is not correct many times. It was
only shown up to 3 km, which occurred mainly due to
averaging the ABL height without considering the time
issue. Second, note that ABL height can reach as low as
0.8 km during 0000 UTand 1800 UT. Yet if all profiles from
GSP RO are not reaching down to 0.5 km, the global
distribution of ABL height will give wrong statistics. In
addition, ABL height shows large diurnal variation, and
hence averaging all the occultations over a given region will
also result in a wrong interpretation. Thus it is suggested to
consider the time or range of time (as GPS RO data are very
sparse in tropical latitudes) and also profiles reaching as
down as 0.5 km (particularly during nighttime) while dealing
with the global distribution of ABL height.
6. Summary and Conclusions
[30] This paper delineates the characteristics of ABL
height over tropical station Gadanki using long-term high
vertical resolution radiosonde observations for the first time.
Several parameters are used to determine ABL height in the
past, and now we show that N also can be used for this
purpose. Temperature (stability) information can be used to
find the capping inversion, whereas water vapor can be used
as an indicator for mixing. In general, there will be more
mixing within the ABL and a sharp reduction above it.
Moreover, tropical latitudes are rich in moisture content and
often sharp changes near ABL height will be noticed. Thus
it is easier to detect from water vapor mixing ratio than from
temperature (T). In addition, it is well known that detecting
ABL height from T profiles is not possible at least for
tropical latitudes, as it may include inversions like trade
wind inversions. Although temperature and/or humidity
profiles can be used for detecting ABL height, sometimes
we could notice that they do not occur simultaneously (there
is some height shift). Thus we strongly believe that one
cannot use them independently at least in the tropical
latitudes but that they should be used as a combination of
two, and hence we have gone to the refractivity (N) method
which contains a combination of two. Note that there is
another method which uses combination of temperature and
humidity, i.e., virtual potential temperature (q
V
). As dis-
cussed in detail in Appendix A, we noticed that the
contribution of water vapor in q
V
is only 0.6 times and
remainder of it is coming through temperature but in N it
varies from 0.7 to 2 times depending upon the e value. Thus
inversions will be more clearly observed in N than in q
V
.
Moreover, in order to estimate q
V
over ocean we need
Figure 9. Diurnal variation of ABL height (above mean
sea level) observed by radiosonde in q, q
V
, r, and N
during (a) MAM (premonsoon), (b) JJA (monsoon), (c) SON
(postmonsoon), and (d) DJF (winter) integrated over
2 years. The diurnal variation observed by COSMIC over
Gadanki is also superimposed. The number of profiles for
radiosonde (COSMIC GPS radio occultation) used is also
shown.
D16101 BASHA AND RATNAM: ABL HEIGHT OVER A TROPICAL STATION
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D16101
accurate temperature and humidity profiles, which are not
possible from normal radiosonde. Our idea is to see whether
there is any other parameter that includes both temperature
and humidity and measures directly at various places on
globe (particularly in the tropical latitudes). Since GPS RO
gives N directly, in the present study we have tested whether
we can use this N to detect ABL height preciously. It is
worth mentioning here that N is a moisture-dependent
parameter, and at least in the tropical altitudes (30
latitudes) where large gaps in the measurements exists
(due to large ocean coverage), this technique will provide
better results.
[31] ABL height detected with the profile of N is com-
pared with the traditional methods of q, q
V
, and r during
different background meteorological conditions. In general,
excellent correlation is seen between N and traditional
methods in all weather conditions, suggesting that N can
also be used as a parameter to detect ABL height accurately.
Interestingly, although both N and q
V
have information on
temperature and water vapor together, their correlation is
less, particularly during cloudy conditions. Since excellent
correlation is found between N and r in all the cases, we
suggest that the contribution of r to the N is more than T (or
q) in the lower troposphere. ABL height is higher during
premonsoon followed by monsoon, postmonsoon, and min-
imum in winter. During monsoon, the boundary layer will
be rich in moisture, and thus most of the radiation from the
surface will be utilized for the evaporation process, which
will result in a shallow ABL. Enhanced soil moisture
probably contributes to increases in the latent heat fluxes
and thus decreases in the surface sensible flux locally and
suppresses the ABL growth. One more reason for the
shallow ABL during the monsoon days may be increased
cloudiness, which can reduce the incoming solar radiation.
On a given day in the monsoon, ABL height is found at
higher heights but on average it is less than premonsoon and
postmonsoon. In general, about 5 K per 100 m enhancement
in the q, q
V
, and up to 10 g/kg per 100 m (25 N units/100 m)
reduction in r (N) is noticed. Interestingly, the reduction in
N is more during winter and monsoon seasons followed by
premonsoons and postmonsoons. This reveals that most of
the water vapor is prohibited from entering into higher
altitudes as N is more directly influenced by water vapor.
[32] The idea behind using N is that it is the directly
measured parameter using the GPS radio occultation tech-
nique and thus can be helpful in studying the ABL on a
global scale. A very good correlation between the two
independent techniques (radiosonde and GPS RO) has been
found. A strong diurnal variation in the ABL height is found
from the radiosonde launched four times a day during all the
seasons. However, the difference between the lower height
and higher height is more in premonsoon and postmonsoon
followed by monsoon and minimum in winter. Similar
diurnal variation is also seen in COSMIC GPS RO over
Gadanki, suggesting that while studying the global distri-
bution of ABL height, a fixed time or range of time (as GPS
RO data are sparse in tropical regions) needs to be consid-
ered. In addition, it is also advised to consider only the
profiles reaching down to 0.5 km particularly during night-
time. In the future work, global distribution of ABL height
from GPS RO measurements will be studied by considering
these limitations. It is to be noted that in the present study
the use of the N profile for detecting ABL height is tested
for Gadanki location, which has a number of small hillocks
and an irregular mix of agriculture and small population
centers. However, it is to be tested how well this hypothesis
will represent at different regions, over oceans, arid zones,
hilly terrain etc., which is beyond scope of the present study
and will be done separately using GPS RO data.
Appendix A
[33] The contribution of water vapor to the virtual poten-
tial temperature (q
V
) and refractivity (N) is estimated in the
following.
A1. Case 1: Virtual Potential Temperature (q
V
)
[34] Virtual potential temperature can be represented as
q
v
q 1 0:6r ; A1
where q is potential temperature in kelvins and r is mixing
ration in kg/kg. Differentiating above equation, it reduces to
Dq
v
q
v

Dq 1 0:6r
q 1 0:6r

q 0:6Dr
q 1 0:6r

Dq
v
q
v

0:6Dr
1 0:6r
: A2
The first term in the above equation is very small and hence
can be neglected. In general, considering minimum (10%)
and maximum (50%) reduction in r at ABL height, the
denominator of the second term reaches close to unity (i.e.,
1.12) and 7. Thus the maximum contribution of water vapor
in q
V
is roughly about 0.6 times only and the rest of it is
coming through temperature.
Table A1. Original Minimum and Maximum Values of e, p, and T
at 2 km and 3 km
e p T
Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum
2 km 0.3452 29.05 566.02 837.45 278.46 297.15
3 km 0.0140 21.69 521.03 744.17 273.44 288.31
Table A2. Minimum and Maximum Enhancement and Reduction
in e, p, and T at Boundary Layer Height
a
Maximum Minimum
e 47.3 0.0044
e
R
69.36 0.2545
p 958.2 535.1
P
R
968.84 548.7
T 302.4 272.4
T
E
304.8 271.7
a
Suffixes R and E denote reduction and enhancement values,
respectively.
Table A3. Maximum and Minimum Values of Different Terms in
Equation (4) at 2 km and 3 km
1/(N1 + N2)
N1
(Dp/p)
N2
(De/e)
(DT/T)
(N1 + 2N2)
At 2 km maximum 0.0029 110.4 200.8 46.9
At 3 km maximum 0.0033 113.8 213.3 41.2
At 2 km minimum 0.0062 117.9 228.7 17.3
At 3 km minimum 0.0067 120.0 237.2 16.2
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A2. Case 2: Refractivity (N)
[35] Refractivity (N) can be represented as
N 77:6
p
T
3:75 10
5
e
T
2
: A3
For simplicity let us assume N1 = 77.6 P/T and N2 =
3.75 10
5
(e/T
2
):
DN1
N

1
1
N2
N1
_

_
_

Dp
p

DT
T
_ _
;
DN2
N

1
1
N1
N2
_

_
_

De
e

2DT
T
_ _
DN
N

DN1
N

DN2
N

DN
N

1
N1 N2
_ _
N1
Dp
p
N1
DT
T
_ _ _
N2
De
e
N2
2DT
T
_ __
;
DN
N

1
N1 N2
_ _
N1
Dp
p
N2
De
e

DT
T
N1 2N2
_ _
: A4
Original minimum and maximum values of e, p, and T at
2 km and 3 km are obtained from 613 profiles and are
shown in Table A1. Similarly, minimum and maximum
enhancement and reduction values of e, p, and T at
boundary layer height are obtained from 613 profiles and
are shown in Table A2. The values calculated based on the
maximum and minimum values at 2 km and 3 km are
shown in Table A3. The values calculated based on the
enhancement of reduction values at boundary layer height
are shown in Table A4. From Tables A1A4, it can be
noticed that contribution of e to N varies from 0.7 times to
2 times depending up on the e values unlike that observed in
q
V
where its contribution is only 0.6 times. Thus inversions
will be more clearly observed in N than q
V
.
[36] Acknowledgments. We are grateful to the National Atmospheric
Research Laboratory (NARL), Gadanki, for providing necessary data for
the present study. One of the authors (G.B.) is thankful to NARL for
providing a fellowship and other necessary facilities to carry out this work.
We thank B. V. Krishnamurthy for his fruitful discussion on this topic. We
also thank three anonymous reviewers for providing detailed comments and
suggestions for improving this manuscript.
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G. Basha and M. V. Ratnam, National Atmospheric Research Laboratory,

Gadanki, Post Box 123, Tirupati 517 502, India. (vratnam@narl.gov.in)
Table A4. Maximum and Minimum Values of Different Terms in
Equation (4) Obtained Based on the Enhancement of Reduction
Values at 2 km and 3 km
1/(N1 + N2)
N1
(Dp/p)
N2
(De/e)
(DT/T)
(N1 + 2N2)
At 2 km maximum 0.0029 109.7 293.4 51.8
At 3 km maximum 0.0033 113.0 311.7 45.4
At 2 km minimum 0.0062 117.0 334.2 19.1
At 3 km minimum 0.006 119.2 346.5 17.9
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