Colfescu, I, Klemp, JB, Bollasina, MA et al. (2 more authors) (2021) The Dynamics of Observed Lee Waves over the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in Iceland. Monthly Weather Review, 149 (5). pp. 1559-1575. ISSN 0027-0644
Abstract
On 20 October 2016, aircraft observations documented a significant train of lee waves above and downstream of the Snæfellsnes Peninsula on the west coast of Iceland. Simulations of this event with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model provide an excellent representation of the observed structure of these mountain waves. The orographic features producing these waves are characterized by the isolated Snæfellsjökull volcano near the tip of the peninsula and a fairly uniform ridge along its spine. Sensitivity simulations with the WRF Model document that the observed wave train consists of a superposition of the waves produced individually by these two dominant orographic features. This behavior is consistent with idealized simulations of a flow over an isolated 3D mountain and over a 2D ridge, which reproduce the essential behavior of the observed waves and those captured in the WRF simulations. Linear analytic analysis confirms the importance of a strong inversion at the top on the boundary layer in promoting significant wave activity extending far downstream of the terrain. However, analysis of the forced and resonant modes for a two-layer atmosphere with a capping inversion suggest that this wave train may not be produced by resonant modes whose energy is trapped beneath the inversion. Rather, these appear to be vertically propagating modes with very small vertical group velocity that can persist far downstream of the mountain. These vertically propagating waves potentially provide a mechanism for producing near-resonant waves farther aloft due to interactions with a stable layer in the midtroposphere.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 American Meteorological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) |
Keywords: | Atmospheric circulation; Mesoscale processes; Mountain waves; Orographic effects; Waves, atmospheric; Regional models |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > National Centre for Atmos Science (NCAS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 26 May 2021 15:47 |
Last Modified: | 26 May 2021 15:47 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Meteorological Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1175/mwr-d-20-0288.1 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:174492 |