INFLUENCE OF A SOLAR ECLIPSE ON THERMAL STRATIFICATION AND THE TURBULENCE REGIME

Abstract

During the total solar eclipse on March 29, 2006, researchers in Kislovodsk measured variations in the flux of the total shortwave radiation, meteorological elements (wind speed and direction and relative air humidity), and turbulence parameters in the surface atmospheric layer, vertical profiles of air temperature in the layer 0–600 m, functions of particle size distribution (0.20–1.50 μ m), and concentrations of light ions. It was found that the decrease in the maximum air temperature caused by the eclipse reached 3.5°C in the surface atmospheric layer and approximately 2°C at an altitude of 600 m a.s.l. After the full phase of the eclipse, turbulent kinetic energy decreased by a factor of 2.5, dispersion of the vertical component of the wind speed decreased by a factor of 2.3, turbulent heat flux decreased by a factor of 3.5, and dispersion of turbulent pulsations of air temperature decreased by a factor of 10.