A41G-0142
Synoptic Flow Interactions with an Isolated Mountain in Complex

Thursday, 17 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Christopher M Hocut1, Edward Creegan1, Yansen Wang2, Sebastian Hoch3, Zachariah Silver4, Laura Sandra Leo4, Silvana Di Sabatino5, Harindra Joseph Fernando4 and Eric Pardyjak6, (1)US Army Research Laboratory, White Sands Missile, NM, United States, (2)US Army Research Lab, Adelphi, MD, United States, (3)University of Utah, Atmospheric Sciences, Salt Lake City, UT, United States, (4)University of Notre Dame, Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences, Notre Dame, IN, United States, (5)University of Bologna, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bologna, Italy, (6)University of Utah, Mechanical Engineering, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Abstract:
In the spring of 2013, the Mountain Terrain Atmospheric Modeling and Observations Program (MATERHORN) conducted its second extensive field experiment at the Granite Mountain Atmospheric Science Testbed (GMAST), US Army Dugway Proving Grounds (DPG), Utah. Of particular interest to MATERHORN-X-2 were synoptic dominated conditions in which synoptic flows interacted with the topography leading to external-flow generated lee and progressive waves and if the Froude number was low; development of eddies, large vortices, wakes and waves in the lee of Granite Mountain. To capture these phenomena, a suite of advanced instrumentation was used, which could characterize the upstream unmodified synoptic approach flow and identify the synoptic flow / mountain interactions. In addition to meteorological towers, three Doppler LiDARs, placed at two locations to the east and in the lee of Granite Mountain were particularly useful, showing the horizontal spatial pattern and temporal evolution of the synoptic generated phenomena. WRF simulations were used to provide analysis guidance.

This research was funded by Office of Naval Research Grant # N00014-11-1-0709 and the Air Force Weather Agency.

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