Mesoscale structure of the atmospheric boundary layer across a natural roughness transition

The structure and intensity of turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) drive fluxes of sediment, contaminants, heat, moisture, and CO 2 at the Earth’s surface. Where ABL flows encounter changes in roughness—such as cities, wind farms, forest canopies, and landforms—a new mesoscopic flow scale is introduced: the internal boundary layer (IBL), which represents a near-bed region of transient flow adjustment that develops over kilometers. Measurement of this new mesoscopic scale lies outside present observational capabilities of ABL flows, and simplified models fail to capture the sensitive dependence of turbulence on roughness geometry. Here, we use large-eddy simulations, run over high-resolution topographic data and validated against field observations, to examine the structure of the ABL across a natural roughness transition: the emergent sand dunes at White Sands National Park. We observe that development of the IBL is triggered by the abrupt transition from smooth playa surface to dunes; however, continuous changes in the size and spacing of dunes over several kilometers influence the downwind patterns of boundary stress and near-bed turbulence. Coherent flow structures grow and merge over the entire ∼ 10 km distance of the dune field and modulate the influence of large-scale atmospheric turbulence on the bed. Simulated boundary stresses in the developing IBL counter existing expectations and explain the observed downwind decrease in dune migration, demonstrating a mesoscale coupling between flow and form that governs landscape dynamics. More broadly, our findings demonstrate the importance of resolving both turbulence and realistic roughness for understanding fluid-boundary interactions in environmental flows.