The Coastal Atmospheric Boundary Layer Along Northern Chile (19-30 S, 71 W ) Characterized with AMDAR Data

The subtropical southeast Pacific hosts one of the most extensive stratocumulus cloud layer fields, with great importance in the global energy balance of the climate system. These clouds exist in the upper portion of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), whose correct simulation by numerical models has been a persistent challenge due to the close interaction of multiple physical processes and the sparseness of in-situ observations, especially in the vertical. In this work we use AMDAR data to characterize the coastal ABL over four sites along north-central Chile, between 19° and 30°S. AMDAR data refer to vertical profiles of temperature and winds measured by commercial aircrafts and made available to weather services through a WMO program. We use AMDAR data for years 2017-2019 and describe the diurnal and annual variation of ABL height, winds and temperatures.