Research products > MARINE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER (MABL)
These plots show the state of the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer as measured by the NOAA radio acoustic sounding system, located at BML. The instrument produces an hourly profile of air temperatures up to an altitude of 1.6 km (1 mile or 5,250 ft).
The virtual temperature profile shows that the boundary layer contains layers of air at different temperatures and that the structure of the layers changes over time. At times a layer of cooler air (typically up to 15˚C or 60F, shown in blue) is trapped below a layer of warmer air, creating a temperature inversion. The height of the temperature inversion is estimated and plotted below. At other times, the layers are less pronounced, there is no clearly visible temperature inversion and there is no height estimate.
Data is courtesy of NOAA Environmental Technology Laboratory: Regional Weather and Climate Applications Division - Boundary Layer Wind Profiler Studies