QUASI-GEOSTROPHIC FLOW PAST MOUNTAINS

• Main Author: Ólafsson, Haraldur; Háskóli Íslands (University of Iceland), Veðurstofa Íslands (Icelandic Meteorological Office) and Rannsóknastofa í veðurfræði (Institute for Meteorological Research); [e-mail]
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Croatian meteorological society; [e-mail] 2005
• Subjects: quasi-geostrophic flow;Rossby number;Froude number;Nh/U;non-dimensional mountain height;asymetric ascending motion;Iceland; Coriolis force;blocking;conceptual model;wake;corner winds; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hrcak.srce.hr/64697; http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/96969

Abstract: Blocked flow at moderate Rossby numbers is studied and an analytic expression is derived for the vertical velocities on each side of the wake: W = (Uo h) / (f Lx Ly) Where Uo is the incoming wind speed, h is the mountain height, f is Coriolis parameter, Ly is mountain half-width and Ly is a length scale of the vertical mortion downstream of the edges of the mountains. To illustrate the use of the above expression, a collection of flows over Iceland is presented and the calculated vertical velocities are compared to the number of days with precipitation in two different regions.