A33Q:
Observations and Predictability of the Atmosphere over Complex Terrain I


Session ID#: 10923

Session Description:
Mountainous terrain is complex given the variety of slope angles and orientations, surface types, valley widths and curvatures. Atmospheric circulations over this intricate geometry arise from synoptic and/or thermally-driven pressure gradients, resulting in inherently complex motions with a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Although recent years have seen sustained efforts to improve the predictability of flows over complex terrain, several scientific questions remain unsolved.

This session focuses on microscale and mesoscale atmospheric phenomena taking place in the atmospheric boundary layer over mountainous terrain. We seek original contributions spanning from theoretical, observational and modeling studies that are related to mountain meteorology. Topics of interest emerging from synergetic fields are also welcomed, including data assimilation, wind energy, hydrology, air quality, fog formation, fire weather, and snow transport.

Primary Convener:  Eric Pardyjak, University of Utah, Mechanical Engineering, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Conveners:  Daniel Nadeau, Laval University, Civil and Water Engineering, Quebec City, QC, Canada, Harindra Joseph Fernando, University of Notre Dame, Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences, Notre Dame, IN, United States and Joshua Hacker, Jupiter, Boulder, United States
Chairs:  Eric Pardyjak, University of Utah, Mechanical Engineering, Salt Lake City, UT, United States and Daniel Nadeau, Laval University, Civil and Water Engineering, Quebec City, QC, Canada
OSPA Liaison:  Daniel Nadeau, Laval University, Civil and Water Engineering, Quebec City, QC, Canada
Co-Sponsor(s):
  • AMS: American Meteorological Society -
Index Terms:

3307 Boundary layer processes [ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES]
3322 Land/atmosphere interactions [ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES]
3379 Turbulence [ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Katabatically Driven Downslope Windstorm-Type Flows on the Inner Sidewall of Arizona's Barringer Meteorite Crater (Invited) (76724)
Charles D Whiteman1, Manuela Lehner2, Sebastian W Hoch1, Matthew Hills1, Thomas Haiden3, Iris Feigenwinter4, Martina Grudzielanek5, Mateja Maric6, Norbert Kalthoff7, Roland Vogt4, Jan Cermak5, Richard Rotunno8, Ronald Calhoun9, Nihanth Wagmi Cherukuru10 and Bianca Adler11, (1)University of Utah, Atmospheric Sciences, Salt Lake City, UT, United States, (2)University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, (3)European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, Reading, United Kingdom, (4)University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland, (5)Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany, (6)Ruhr Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany, (7)Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Troposphere Research(IMK-TRO), Karlsruhe, Germany, (8)National Center for Atmospheric Research, Mesoscale & Microscale Meteorology Division, Boulder, CO, United States, (9)Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States, (10)National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, United States, (11)Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-TRO), Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
On the turbulence structure over complex mountainous terrain as observed in the i-Box (Invited) (78495)
Mathias Walter Rotach1, Florian Baur1, Yasmin RS Markl1, Ivana Stiperski1 and Christian Mallaun2, (1)University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria, (2)German Aerospace Center DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Non-stationary Drainage Flows and Cold Pools in Gentle Terrain (Invited) (61156)
Larry Mahrt, NorthWest Research Associates Redmond, Corvallis, OR, United States
Buoyant Turbulence Kinetic Energy (TKE) Production in Katabatic Flow Despite Stable Thermal Stratification (61795)
Holly J Oldroyd, EPFL Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, Eric Pardyjak, University of Utah, Mechanical Engineering, Salt Lake City, UT, United States, Chad W Higgins, College of Agricultural Sciences, Oregon State University, Biological and Ecological Engineering, Corvallis, OR, United States and Marc B Parlange, University of British Columbia, Faculty of Applied Science, Department of Civil Engineering, Vancouver, Canada
Winds, Mountains, and Wildland Fire: Improved Understanding of Coupled Atmosphere-Topography-Fire Interactions Through Large-Eddy Simulation (82962)
Domingo Munoz-Esparza, Jeremy Sauer and Rodman Linn, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States
Nocturnal Valley Cold Air Pool Displacement on a Desert Mountain Slope (66457)
Matt Edward Jeglum and Sebastian W Hoch, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Large-eddy transport in the surface layer over heterogeneous terrain (71785)
Matthias Mauder1, Fabian Eder2, Frederik De Roo3, Peter Brugger3, Hans Peter E Schmid4, Eyal Rotenberg5 and Dan Yakir5, (1)Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, (2)Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Geography and Geoecology (IfGG), Karlsruhe, Germany, (3)Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMK-IFU), Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, (4)Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, IMK-IFU, KIT-Campus Alpin, Karlsruhe, Germany, (5)Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
A Study of the 24-26 March 2015 Rainfall Event over the Atacama Desert (Chile) using WRF Simulations (75158)
Sebastian Felipe Otarola1, Ricardo Alcafuz2, Reneta Dimitrova3, Laura Sandra Leo4, Cristian R Escauriaza1, Rodrigo Arroyo2, Gonzalo Yáñez Morroni5 and Harindra Joseph Fernando4, (1)Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, (2)Chilean Meteorological Agency, Office of Modeling and Development, Santiago, Chile, (3)National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography, Sofia, Bulgaria, (4)University of Notre Dame, Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences, Notre Dame, IN, United States, (5)Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Santiago, Chile

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