The Coastal Boundary Layer at the Eastern Margin of the Southeast Pacific (23.4°S, 70.4°W): Cloudiness-Conditioned Climatology
Authors: Muñoz Ricardo C. , Zamora Rosa A. , Rutllant José A. 
Published: October 2010

A basic climatological description of 29 years of surface and upper-air observations at a coastal site (23.4°S, 70.4°W) in northern Chile is presented. The site is considered to be generally representative of the eastern coastal margin of the southeast Pacific stratocumulus region, which plays an important role in the global radiative balance. The analysis focuses on two of the main elements affecting coastal weather in this region: low-level cloudiness and the state of the subsidence temperature inversion. The objectives of the paper are 1) to present the basic climatological features of these elements and 2) to document the differences in the structure of this coastal boundary layer (BL) associated with the presence or absence of low-level clouds.

Low-level clouds (defined here as ceilings less than 1500 m AGL) occur at the site mostly in the night, especially during austral winter and spring. Elevated subsidence inversions show a very large prevalence in the 1200 UTC [0800 local time (LT)] radiosonde profiles analyzed here, with base heights typically between 800 and 1100 m. The seasonal cycle of the subsidence inversion shows an ∼300-m amplitude at inversion base and top and a substantial BL cooling in austral winter. Generally weak and shallow surface-based inversions at 1200 UTC (0800 LT) are present in about 15% of the soundings, with more frequent occurrence in austral fall.

The second objective was accomplished by compositing surface meteorology and upper-air profiles conditioned by nighttime low-level cloudiness. More frequent surface inversions in temperature and dewpoint are found for mostly clear nights, as compared to mostly cloudy nighttime conditions. The clear-night BL shows a more stable temperature profile and larger vertical gradients in mixing ratio when compared to the approximately well-mixed cloud-topped BL. Above the BL, the clear composites show a weaker subsidence inversion and more intense northerly winds in the 1000–3000-m layer compared to the cloudy cases.

Insights into the physical mechanisms underlying the findings above were sought by comparing the cloudy composites to results of a stationary mixed-layer model of a stratus-capped marine BL, by computing derived parameters pertaining to the temperature budget and the turbulent state of the lower troposphere and by using reanalysis fields to compute regional circulation anomalies associated to coastal low-level cloudiness. The results show physically significant differences in subsidence, horizontal temperature advection, and winds in the lower troposphere associated with the mean clear and cloudy coastal BL. Coastal clear nights appear associated with a cold anomaly in the lower troposphere over the southeast Pacific basin offshore of Peru and Chile, which by thermal wind arguments induce anomalies of southerly winds along the Chilean coast near the surface and northerly winds above the BL, while at the same time reducing the coastal subsidence in the lower troposphere. These results point to the importance of properly representing the sea–land temperature contrast and the topographic impact on the lower-tropospheric flow in order to adequately model the coastal BL mean state over this region.