Cd. Whiteman et al., Boundary layer evolution and regional-scale diurnal circulations over the Mexico Basin and Mexican plateau, J GEO RES-A, 105(D8), 2000, pp. 10081-10102
Data collected in a measurement campaign in February and March 1997 showed
that the Mexico Basin (also called the Valley of Mexico), located atop the
Mexican plateau, fails to develop the strong nocturnal inversions usually a
ssociated with basins and does not exhibit diurnally reversing valley wind
systems. Data analyses, two- and three-dimensional numerical simulations wi
th the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), and a Lagrangian partic
le dispersion model are used to interpret these observations and to examine
the effects of topography and regional diurnal circulations on boundary la
yer evolution over the Mexico Basin and its surroundings during fair weathe
r periods in the winter dry season. We show that the boundary layer evoluti
on in and above the basin is driven primarily by regional diurnal circulati
ons that develop between the air above the Mexican Plateau and the generall
y cooler surrounding coastal areas. A convective boundary layer (CBL) grows
explosively over the plateau in the late morning to reach elevations of 22
50 m agl (4500 m msl) by noon, and a strong baroclinic zone forms on the ed
ges of the plateau separating the warm CBL air from its cooler surroundings
. In early afternoon the rates of heating and CBL growth are slowed as cool
air leaks onto the plateau and into the basin through passes and over low-
lying plateau edges. The flow onto the plateau is retarded, however, by the
strongly rising branch of a plain-plateau circulation at the plateau edges
, especially where mountains or steep slopes are present. An unusually rapi
d and deep cooling of the air above the plateau begins in late afternoon an
d early evening when the surface energy budget reverses, the CBL decays, an
d air accelerates onto the plateau through the baroclinic zone. Flow conver
gence near the basin floor and the associated rising motions over the basin
and plateau produce cooling in 3 hours that is equivalent to half the dayt
ime heating. While the air that converges onto the plateau comes from eleva
tions at and above the plateau, it is air that was modified earlier in the
day by a cool, moist coastal inflow carried up the plateau slopes by the pl
ain-plateau circulation.