Utility of the NWS ASOS instrumentation: Detecting Planetary Boundary Clouds and their Relationship to Surface Meteorological Parameters at a semi-Urban site

This study will discuss the link between Planetary Boundary Layer clouds (PBLc) and associated surface characteristics. The specific goal of the study is to (i) investigate the presence of the PBLc over a semi-urban observation site and its relationship to surface fluxes at the site, (ii) discuss the local and mesoscale influences to the PBLc observed at the site, and (iii) propose a method to scale up the findings (Nationally) using the National Weather Service’s Automated Surface Observing Site (ASOS) instrumentation located at many of the major airports in the nations urban centers. A summary of ongoing work linking remotely detected PBL height and that determined using the LCL to detect capped boundary layer clouds will be made and conclusions drawn on seasonal variations and their causes. These results will be interrogated using wind direction and leaf conditions at the site.  A detailed discussion of the observational site at the Howard University Beltsville Campus (HUBC) will be given. HUBC has a complex landscape, it can be separated in more “homogeneous” sectors: commercial/industrial sector, suburban sprawling, and agricultural fields mixed with a mix of deciduous and conifer forest.  A brief description of the ASOS infrastructure and future plans of data archiving will also be made.