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Abstract Daytime atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) dynamics—including potential temperature budgets, water vapour budgets, and entrainment rates—are presented from in situ flight data taken on six afternoons near Fresno in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) of California during July/August 2016. The flights took place as a part of the California Baseline Ozone Transport Study aimed at investigating transport pathways of air entering the Central Valley from offshore and mixing down to the surface. Midday entrainment velocity estimates ranged from 0.8 to 5.4 cm s −1 and were derived from a combination of continuously determined ABL heights during each flight and model-derived subsidence rates, which averaged -2.0 cm s −1 in the flight region. A strong correlation was found between entrainment velocity (normalized by the convective velocity scale) and an inverse bulk ABL Richardson number, suggesting that wind shear at the ABL top plays a significant role in driving entrainment. Similarly, we found a strong correlation between the entrainment efficiency (the ratio of entrainment to surface heat fluxes with an average of 0.23 ± 0.15) and the wind speed at the ABL top. We explore the synoptic conditions that generate higher winds near the ABL top and propose that warm anomalies in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains promote increased entrainment. Additionally, a method is outlined to estimate turbulence kinetic energy, convective velocity scale ( w * ), and the surface sensible heat flux in the ABL from a slow, airborne wind measurement system using mixed-layer similarity theory. 

Abstract. We present the development and assessment of a new flight system that uses acommercially available continuous-wave, tunable infrared laser directabsorption spectrometer to measure N₂O, CO₂, CO, andH₂O. When the commercial system is operated in an off-the-shelfmanner, we find a clear cabin pressure–altitude dependency forN₂O, CO₂, and CO. The characteristics of this artifactmake it difficult to reconcile with conventional calibration methods. Wepresent a novel procedure that extends upon traditional calibrationapproaches in a high-flow system with high-frequency, short-duration samplingof a known calibration gas of near-ambient concentration. This approachcorrects for cabin pressure dependency as well as other sources of drift inthe analyzer while maintaining a ∼90% duty cycle for 1Hz sampling.Assessment and validation of the flight system with both extensive in-flightcalibrations and comparisons with other flight-proven sensors demonstrate thevalidity of this method. In-flight 1σ precision is estimated at0.05ppb, 0.10ppm, 1.00ppb, and 10ppm for N₂O,CO₂, CO, and H₂O respectively, and traceability to WorldMeteorological Organization (WMO) standards (1σ) is 0.28ppb,0.33ppm, and 1.92ppb for N₂O, CO₂, and CO. We showthe system is capable of precise, accurate 1Hz airborne observations ofN₂O, CO₂, CO, and H₂O and highlight flightdata, illustrating the value of this analyzer for studying N₂Oemissions on ∼100km spatial scales.