Marine Boundary Layer

The marine boundary layer is the atmospheric boundary layer over the ocean, the lowest part of the air directly coupled to the sea by turbulent fluxes of momentum, heat, and water vapor. It is usually shallower and more uniform than over land, typically a few hundred meters to about 1 to 2 km, because the sea surface temperature varies slowly and damps the diurnal cycle. A temperature inversion often caps it, trapping moisture and sustaining the extensive sheets of stratus and stratocumulus that cover the eastern subtropical oceans. Surface stress here sets the wind stress that drives ocean currents and wind waves.