We investigated the turbulent intensities and Reynolds shear stress at high Reynolds number $$({Re_\tau = 5 \times 10^{6}})$$ ( R e τ = 5 × 10 6 ) in the atmosphere surface layer (ASL) through analyzing observations in near-neutral stratified conditions. The results show that with increasing Reynolds number the streamwise turbulent intensity increases linearly, and the peak of the Reynolds shear stress extends to a higher non-dimensional height, which means that the thickness of the logarithmic region increases. Furthermore, our results provide evidence for treating the ASL as a canonical turbulent boundary layer, the results of which can be extended and applied to higher Reynolds number wall turbulence in the ASL.