Advances in Science and Research www.adv-sci-res.net 1992-0628 1992-0636 2 7th EMS Annual Meeting and 8th European Conference on Applications of Meteorology 2007 2008 10.5194/asr-2-159-2008 http://www.adv-sci-res.net/2/159/2008/ http://www.adv-sci-res.net/2/159/2008/asr-2-159-2008.html http://www.adv-sci-res.net/2/159/2008/asr-2-159-2008.pdf 159 168 2009-11-24 Setup of tools and dataset selection for MBL investigation over a coastal Mediterranean site – preliminary results L. Velea liliana.velea@artov.isac.cnr.it G. L. Liberti A. M. Sempreviva C. Transerici ISAC-CNR, Via Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, Rome, 00133, Italy ISAC-CNR, c/o CRATI Zona Industriale area ex SIR, 88046, Lamezia Terme, Italy Risø-DTU, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark We propose the height zi of the inversion in the vertical profile of potential temperature, on the top of a mixed layer or of a residual layer as a relevant parameter for retrieving information related to water vapour in the lower layers of the atmosphere, from currently available operational satellites information. We estimated zi using an algorithm where a set of threshold values in the vertical gradients of potential temperature are used to analyse the available profiles in order to find relevant inversions. Thresholds are derived from the subjective analysis of a set of high vertical resolution soundings from the coastal site of the Italian Meteorological Service of Pratica di Mare (WMO #16245, lat. 41.66° N, lon. 12.45° E). 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