Abstract: In the rough sublayer of the urban boundary layer, the local similarity theory is usually used to describe the characteristics of the average field and the turbulence field. However, Monin-Obukhov similarity theory is still used in many occasions. By acquiring the wind speed and temperature data at two different heights in a rough sublayer of Hefei city, China, the difference between the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory and the local similarity theory is analyzed. At the same time, the universal function of the normalized standard deviation of wind speed and temperature with the local atmospheric stability varying with height is also focused. The statistical results show that the friction speed u∗ at two heights differs by more than 13%, and the characteristic temperature T∗ differs by less than 2%. It is also shown that the universal function of wind speed and temperature of the local atmospheric stability in surface layer of the flat underlying surface can be adopted here, however, the fitting coefficients are not the same as those in surface layer of the flat underlying surface and different at two height. It shows that the location of this experiment has the characteristics of a general rough sublayer, which is quite different from the flat and uniform underlying surface near the ground layer.

Key words: urban boundary layer, rough sublayer, similarity theory, local similarity theory, friction velocity; normalized standard deviation