We analyze the results of investigation of turbulent boundary layers typical of geophysical objects. It is shown that boundary layers of various nature are self-regulating sustems characterized by relatively slow evolutionary processes of formation accompanied by the growth of instabilities of different types and then replaced by the rapid development of instabilities and destruction of the boundary layers. This cycle is repeated with a certain quasiregular frequency. The destruction of the boundary layer is accompanied by the ejection of turbulent structures whose parameters are characterized by stable experimentally reproducible mean values. This mechanism is responsible for the process of exchange in the boundary layers.