Longitudinal instabilities and secondary flows in the planetary boundary layer: A review

Within the past decade, satellite pictures have shown persistent cloud patterns which indicate that the flow in the atmospheric planetary boundary layer is often organized into helical secondary circulations aligned parallel to the mean flow. Theory and observation agree that both convection in the presence of shear and the dynamic inflection point instabilities of the Ekman layer lead to these flow patterns. The observations and theory are reviewed with emphasis on the dynamics-dominated flow.

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