A Numerical Study of the Effect of the Gulf Stream and the Appalachian Mountains on Carolina Coastal Frontogenesis

• Main Authors: Xu, Liang, Raman, Sethu, Madala, Rangarao V.
• Other Authors: NAVAL RESEARCH LAB WASHINGTON DC
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1995
• Subjects: Physical and Dynamic Oceanography; Atmospheric Physics; *COASTAL REGIONS; *GULF STREAM; *FRONTS(OCEANOGRAPHY); *APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS; HEAT TRANSFER; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; LOW TEMPERATURE; EXPERIMENTAL DATA; OCEAN CURRENTS; AIR FLOW; BOUNDARY LAYER; OCEANOGRAPHIC DATA; WINTER; ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATION; NUMERICAL METHODS AND PROCEDURES; ATLANTIC OCEAN; AIR WATER INTERACTIONS; HEAT FLUX; ARCTIC REGIONS; CONVECTION(ATMOSPHERIC); AIR MASSES; PE61153N; Arctic; Raleigh
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA293765; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA293765

Three numerical experiments were conducted to understand the role of the Gulf Stream and the Appalachian mountains on the formation of coastal frontogenesis along the mid-Atlantic coast during the winter months. A 3-dimensional, 10-layer, 1-way interactive, triple-nested hydrostatic model was used. The model physics includes dry convective adjustment, explicit large-scale precipitation, parameterized convective-scale circulations, and parameterized boundary layer physics using a similarity theory formulation. Initial conditions for the numerical model are obtained from the Second intensive Observation Period (IOP-2) of the Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment (GALE). Results of the numerical experiments show that the Gulf Stream plays a significant role in developing coastal frontogenesis through transfer of large amounts of sensible and latent heats to the cold, dry atmospheric air of Arctic origin. The Gulf Stream is also found to be crucial in producing convective precipitation along the Carolina coast. On the other hand, the Appalachian mountains, which are responsible for cold air damming, are found to play only a minor role in the coastal frontogenesis. (AN) Prepared in collaboration with North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, Dept. of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences.