Land-Atmosphere Energy Transfer and Surface Boundary Layer Characteristics in the Rongbu Valley on the Northern Slope of Mt. Everest

The land-atmosphere interaction processes are unique at Mt. Everest as a result of high elevation. Based on turbulent data collected from April 2005 to March 2006 with the eddy covariance method at Quzong in the Rongbu Valley on the northern slope of Mt. Everest, land-atmosphere energy budget before and after the southwest monsoon onset and surface layer turbulent characteristics are Studied for the first time. It is found that energy budget components (net radiation flux, sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, and soil heat flux) and surface heating field have strong diurnal and seasonal variations. In particular under the influence of the southwest, monsoon, the characteristics of surface parameters can be clearly identified. From pre-monsoon to monsoon season, the sensible heat flux decreases whereas the latent heat flux increases. The latent heat flux and Evaporative Fraction at Quzong are relatively high most of the year. Furthermore, the intensity of heating source in the wet season (from June to August) is much greater than that in the dry season (from October to December). The relationship between normalized standard deviation of wind speed and atmospheric stability, variations of normalized standard deviation of temperature, and humidity with atmospheric stability are analyzed using the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory. The result reveals that the normalized standard deviation of velocity components of the three-dimensional wind speed follows similarity relationships in the convective and near-neutral surface layer, but does not seem to be valid in stable surface layer. However, the normalized standard deviation of temperature and humidity does not obey Monin-Obukhov similarity theory in the entire interval of atmospheric stratifications.