Transport of temperature and humidity variance and covariance in the marine surface layer

In this paper we address the budget of potential temperature T and moisture mixing ratio q variances as well as the q - T covariance budget. We focus on the vertical transport and study the quantities contained in these terms. Estimates of transport terms are rare and to the best of our knowledge they have never been shown together in the literature.

For this purpose an extensive set of humidity and temperature turbulence data from two heights in a marine environment has been analysed. We discuss and compare our results with results from earlier studies for a range of stability from near-neutral to unstable. Similarity and differences between T and q behaviour in the surface layer over water are presented.