  The atmospheric convective boundary layer (CBL) consists of three basic
parts: (i) the surface layer unstably stratified and dominated by small-scale
turbulence of very complex nature; (ii) the CBL core dominated by the energy-,
momentum- and mass-transport of semi-organized structures (large-scale
circulations), with a small contribution from small-scale turbulence produced
by local structural shears; and (iii) turbulent entrainment layer at the upper
boundary, characterized by essentially stable stratification with negative
(downward) turbulent flux of potential temperature. The energy- and flux budget
(EFB) theory developed previously for atmospheric stably-stratified turbulence
and the surface layer in atmospheric convective turbulence is extended to the
CBL core using budget equations for turbulent energies and turbulent fluxes of
buoyancy and momentum. For the CBL core, we determine global turbulent
characteristics (averaged over the entire volume of the semi-organized
structure) as well as kinetic and thermal energies of the semi-organized
structures as the functions of the aspect ratio of the semi-organized
structure, the scale separation parameter between the vertical size of the
structures and the integral scale of turbulence and the degree of thermal
anisotropy characterized the form of plumes. The obtained theoretical
relationships are potentially useful in modeling applications in the
atmospheric convective boundary-layer, and analysis of laboratory and field
experiments, direct numerical simulations and large-eddy simulations of
convective turbulence with large-scale semi-organized structures.
