Investigating the Planetary Boundary Layer Response During the 8 April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

On 8 April 2024, a total solar eclipse (TSE) moved across the continental United States, passing through New York State (NYS) – the first one since 1925 and the last until 2079 for NYS. The path of totality moved through western New York from the southwest to the northeast corner, crossing 55 NYS Mesonet (NYSM) standard stations, 8 flux stations and 7 profiler stations. The rest of the NYS experienced at least 88% obstruction at the peak of the eclipse.

A team of undergraduate and graduate students mentored by the faculty members from the State University of New York – University at Albany (UAlbany) launched radiosondes from Fort Drum, NY (a site in the path of totality), as a part of the NASA Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP). A total of 32 radiosondes were launched every hour starting 24 hours prior to the totality at 1922 UTC and 6 hours afterwards. In addition, the UAlbany team also launched daily radiosondes from Albany, NY (a site outside the path of totality) throughout the month of April at 1800 UTC, along with 7 launches on the day of the eclipse from 1730 to 2100 UTC, as a part of a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project.

The primary goal of this study is to investigate the evolution of the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) height over Fort Drum and Albany during the TSE. The observations showed rapid changes in the thermodynamic structure of the PBL and decrease in surface temperature and turbulent motions. This presentation will review and discuss a variety of methods based on potential temperature and humidity profiles for estimating the PBL height using the radiosonde data collected from the NEBP and NSF field campaigns before, during and after the TSE. A comparative analysis of radiosonde derived PBL height with those estimated from the nearby NYSM Profiler Network Doppler lidars based on the backscatter and vertical wind profiles and HRRR model output will also be presented. The impact of the TSE on the PBL height will be studied using derived PBL heights and be compared between the Fort Drum (totality) and Albany (non-totality) sites. Overall, the results from this multi-platform observational study provide detailed analysis of PBL responses due to TSE.