SECOND-ORDER MODEL FOR ATMOSPHERIC TURBULENCE WITHOUT CRITICAL RICHARDSON NUMBER

The purpose of this communication is to present a derivation of the non-dimensional vertical gradients of the mean wind speed and mean potential temperature expressed in terms of the so-called similarity functions for very stable conditions of the atmosphere where theoretical approaches provide conflicting results (see e.g. Luhar et al. [19]). The result is based on the analysis of the second-order model equations in the boundary layer approximations in which new heat flux equations are proposed. The model employs a recent closure for the pressure-temperature correlation, avoiding the issue of a critical treshold for the Richardson number.