A Simulation-Based Study of the Modified Refractive Index in the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer

We performed a LES study of modified refractive index in the convective boundary layer (CBL) over the ocean. The potential temperature and specific humidity in the atmosphere are driven by the specified fluxes at the ocean surface. The inertial subrange in the spectra of turbulence kinetic energy and turbulence variance of temperature and humidity is captured by the present LES data. It is shown that due to the strong turbulent vertical mixing in the CBL, the mean vertical profiles of potential temperature and specific humidity do not vary much away from the ocean surface. We further analyzed the effects of the presence of the large-scale convective rolls in CBL on the spatial distribution of the refractive index and found that the magnitude of the modified refractive index is affected by the ejection and sweep events associated with the convective rolls.