The paper presents the results of probing the stable atmospheric boundary layer in the coastal zone of Lake Baikal with a coherent Doppler wind lidar and a microwave temperature profiler. Two-dimensional height–temporal distributions of the wind velocity vector components, temperature, and parameters characterizing atmospheric stability and wind turbulence were obtained. The parameters of the low-level jets and the atmospheric waves arising in the stable boundary layer were determined. It was shown that the stable atmospheric boundary layer has an inhomogeneous fine scale layered structure characterized by strong variations of the Richardson number Ri. Layers with large Richardson numbers alternate with layers where Ri is less than the critical value of the Richardson number Ricr = 0.25. The channels of decreased stability, where the conditions are close to neutral stratification 0 < Ri < 0.25, arise in the zone of the low-level jets. The wind turbulence in the central part of the observed jets, where Ri > Ricr, is weak, increases considerably to the periphery of jets, at heights where Ri < Ricr. The turbulence may intensify at the appearance of internal atmospheric waves.
The Critical Richardson Number and Limits of Applicability of Local Similarity Theory in the Stable Boundary Layer
