Shear instabiiities and their characteristics during Foehn

Autor: Peter D. Phillips, Werner Nater, Hans Richner
Rok vydání: 1979
Předmět:
Zdroj: Geophysical & Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics. 13:215-223
ISSN: 1029-0419
0309-1929
DOI: 10.1080/03091927908243771
Popis: During southern Foehn, there occurs within the planetary boundary layer a well-defined surface with a wind shear of typically 15 m/s and a temperature jump of about 15°C within a vertical distance of 100 m. These conditions are nearly ideal for studying shear waves and stability in the atmospheric boundary layer. The stratification and the dynamics of the boundary layer were investigated using radiosonde, pilot and tethered balloon ascents, automatic hill-top weather stations, and an array of microbarovariographs. The experimentally determined gravity wave characteristics are discussed and it is shown that they fit well into the theoretical k-ω diagnostic diagram. It is shown that under these extreme shear conditions the simple three-layer model (Gossard, 1975) gives results which compare quite well with the measurements. Shear instabilities (braids) are identified and it is demonstrated that descending parcels of air are present within these instabilities. Detailed measurements of temperature an...
Databáze: OpenAIRE