SAR Observation and Modeling of Gap Winds in the Prince William Sound of Alaska
Alaska’s Prince William Sound (PWS) is a unique locale tending to have strong gap winds, especially in the winter season. To characterize and understand these strong surface winds, which have great impacts on the local marine and aviation activities, the surface wind retrieval from the Syntheti...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:65a54f3f4ae84b81b0eb6402db869a7f 2023-05-15T16:22:36+02:00 SAR Observation and Modeling of Gap Winds in the Prince William Sound of Alaska Karl Volz Peter Q Olsson Haibo Liu 2008-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doaj.org/article/65a54f3f4ae84b81b0eb6402db869a7f EN eng MDPI AG http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/8/8/4894/ https://doaj.org/toc/1424-8220 1424-8220 https://doaj.org/article/65a54f3f4ae84b81b0eb6402db869a7f Sensors, Vol 8, Iss 8, Pp 4894-4914 (2008) SAR model gap wind barrier Alaska Chemical technology TP1-1185 article 2008 ftdoajarticles 2022-12-30T20:03:11Z Alaska’s Prince William Sound (PWS) is a unique locale tending to have strong gap winds, especially in the winter season. To characterize and understand these strong surface winds, which have great impacts on the local marine and aviation activities, the surface wind retrieval from the Synthetic Aperture Radar data (SAR-wind) is combined with a numerical mesoscale model. Helped with the SAR-wind observations, the mesoscale model is used to study cases of strong winds and relatively weak winds to depict the nature of these winds, including the area of extent and possible causes of the wind regimes. The gap winds from the Wells Passage and the Valdez Arm are the most dominant gap winds in PWS. Though the Valdez Arm is north-south trending and Wells Passage is east-west oriented, gap winds often develop simultaneously in these two places when a low pressure system is present in the Northern Gulf of Alaska. These two gap winds often converge at the center of PWS and extend further out of the Sound through the Hinchinbrook Entrance. The pressure gradients imposed over these areas are the main driving forces for these gap winds. Additionally, the drainage from the upper stream glaciers and the blocking effect of the banks of the Valdez Arm probably play an important role in enhancing the gap wind. Article in Journal/Newspaper glaciers Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Gulf of Alaska |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
SAR model gap wind barrier Alaska Chemical technology TP1-1185 |
spellingShingle |
SAR model gap wind barrier Alaska Chemical technology TP1-1185 Karl Volz Peter Q Olsson Haibo Liu SAR Observation and Modeling of Gap Winds in the Prince William Sound of Alaska |
topic_facet |
SAR model gap wind barrier Alaska Chemical technology TP1-1185 |
description |
Alaska’s Prince William Sound (PWS) is a unique locale tending to have strong gap winds, especially in the winter season. To characterize and understand these strong surface winds, which have great impacts on the local marine and aviation activities, the surface wind retrieval from the Synthetic Aperture Radar data (SAR-wind) is combined with a numerical mesoscale model. Helped with the SAR-wind observations, the mesoscale model is used to study cases of strong winds and relatively weak winds to depict the nature of these winds, including the area of extent and possible causes of the wind regimes. The gap winds from the Wells Passage and the Valdez Arm are the most dominant gap winds in PWS. Though the Valdez Arm is north-south trending and Wells Passage is east-west oriented, gap winds often develop simultaneously in these two places when a low pressure system is present in the Northern Gulf of Alaska. These two gap winds often converge at the center of PWS and extend further out of the Sound through the Hinchinbrook Entrance. The pressure gradients imposed over these areas are the main driving forces for these gap winds. Additionally, the drainage from the upper stream glaciers and the blocking effect of the banks of the Valdez Arm probably play an important role in enhancing the gap wind. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Karl Volz Peter Q Olsson Haibo Liu |
author_facet |
Karl Volz Peter Q Olsson Haibo Liu |
author_sort |
Karl Volz |
title |
SAR Observation and Modeling of Gap Winds in the Prince William Sound of Alaska |
title_short |
SAR Observation and Modeling of Gap Winds in the Prince William Sound of Alaska |
title_full |
SAR Observation and Modeling of Gap Winds in the Prince William Sound of Alaska |
title_fullStr |
SAR Observation and Modeling of Gap Winds in the Prince William Sound of Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
SAR Observation and Modeling of Gap Winds in the Prince William Sound of Alaska |
title_sort |
sar observation and modeling of gap winds in the prince william sound of alaska |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://doaj.org/article/65a54f3f4ae84b81b0eb6402db869a7f |
geographic |
Gulf of Alaska |
geographic_facet |
Gulf of Alaska |
genre |
glaciers Alaska |
genre_facet |
glaciers Alaska |
op_source |
Sensors, Vol 8, Iss 8, Pp 4894-4914 (2008) |
op_relation |
http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/8/8/4894/ https://doaj.org/toc/1424-8220 1424-8220 https://doaj.org/article/65a54f3f4ae84b81b0eb6402db869a7f |
_version_ |
1766010608378970112 |