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Question about Planetary Boundary Layer height in Giovanni

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:27 pm America/New_York
by GES DISC - jimacker
A member of the GES DISC user community sent this question to the Help Desk, and it was answered by a Subject Matter Expert. This question and answer are provided here as an information resource.
Q. I am fetching monthly data for Planetary boundary layer height using Giovanni. As a result, I am getting two response variable datasets ( Transcom planetary boundary layer height (M2TMNXFLX v5.12.4) and Planetary boundary layer height (M2TMNXFLX v5.12.4). What is the difference between Transcom planetary boundary layer height and Planetary boundary layer height?
A. Thanks for your interest in MERRA-2!

The TCZPBL, transom PBL is based on Seidel et al 2012 (https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JD018143), defined where the bulk Ri number exceeds 0.25.

PBLH is based on a K threshold.

Both methods are discussed here: McGrath-Spangler and Molod 2014 (https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6717-2014)