Summertime characteristics of the central California coastal marine atmospheric boundary layer

urface and upper air meteorological variables and sea surface temperature observations for the period of April-August 2005, 2006 and 2007 were analyzed to determine the vertical structure, temporal variability, and controlling parameters of the Central California Coastal Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer (MABL) focusing at Bodega Bay, CA. In addition, atmospheric simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model were performed for the month of June 2006 to determine the dominant coastal weather regimes during summer. Lastly, a sensitivity study was performed to determine the effect on short time scales of the magnitude of the surface fluxes of sensible and latent heat on the MABL structure during an upwelling and relaxation period. Observational results confirm that semi-persistent coastal upwelling during summer leads to the presence of a cool, shallow marine layer capped aloft by a stable subsidence inversion and to the east by the coastal topography. In addition, a Low Level Jet is located near the base of the inversion. Stability analysis indicates that on average the shallow surface layer is below the critical Richardson...