Surface boundary layer

From Glossary of Meteorology



surface boundary layer[edit | edit source]

(Also called constant flux layer, surface layer.) A layer of air of order tens of meters thick adjacent to the ground where mechanical (shear) generation of turbulence exceeds buoyant generation or consumption.

In this layer Monin–Obukhov similarity theory can be used to describe the logarithmic wind profile. The friction velocity u* is nearly constant with height in the surface layer.
Compare atmospheric boundary layer, radix layer, Obukhov length, aerodynamic roughness length.


  1. The layer of fluid near a boundary that is affected by friction against that boundary surface, and possibly by transport of heat and other variables across that surface.
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