Turbulence structures in the near-neutral surface layer on the Tibetan Plateau

We investigated the turbulence structures in the surface layer over a flat and homogeneous prairie on the Tibetan plateau. In general, turbulence statistics show similar results to those reported in the literature from other normal sites. However, further scrutiny of turbulence data from different heights and (co)spectra analysis revealed that 1) height-dependent turbulence statistics of vertical wind velocity; 2) a spectral gap with the absence of k(-1) power law in mid frequencies in the spectra of lateral wind velocity; and 3) the deviation of heat flux cospectra in low frequencies from Monin-Obukhov theory. These results not only provide the evidence of interactions between active and inactive turbulence but also shed light on different views on the fundamental mechanism of such interactions in the atmospheric surface layer.