The Impact of Topography on the Dynamics of Sting-Jet Storm "Egon" over Continental Europe

Intense Shapiro-Keyser cyclones are often accompanied by a sting jet (SJ), an airstream that descends from the cloud head into the frontal-fracture region and can cause extreme surface wind gusts. Previous work has concentrated on cases over the North Atlantic and the British Isles. Here we present...

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Main Authors: Eisenstein, Lea, Pantillon, Florian, Knippertz, Peter, Pinto, Joaquim G.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000165691
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spelling ftubkarlsruhe:oai:EVASTAR-Karlsruhe.de:1000165691 2024-01-21T10:08:45+01:00 The Impact of Topography on the Dynamics of Sting-Jet Storm "Egon" over Continental Europe Eisenstein, Lea Pantillon, Florian Knippertz, Peter Pinto, Joaquim G. 2023-12-18 https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000165691 eng eng https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000165691 ddc:550 Earth sciences info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550 doc-type:conferenceObject Event info:eu-repo/semantics/article article 2023 ftubkarlsruhe 2023-12-24T23:09:11Z Intense Shapiro-Keyser cyclones are often accompanied by a sting jet (SJ), an airstream that descends from the cloud head into the frontal-fracture region and can cause extreme surface wind gusts. Previous work has concentrated on cases over the North Atlantic and the British Isles. Here we present the first-ever detailed analysis of a SJ over continental Europe and investigate the influence of topography on its dynamical evolution based on observations and high-resolution simulations using the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic model (ICON). Windstorm Egon intensified over the English Channel and then tracked from northern France to Poland on 12–13 January 2017, causing wind gusts of almost 150 km h−1 and significant damages. ICON reproduces the storm evolution realistically but delays the explosive deepening, shifts the track southward over Belgium and Germany and underestimates wind gusts over land. Storm characteristics show weak sensitivity to varying grid spacing between 1.6 and 6.5 km, while switching off the convection parametrisation at 3.3 km grid spacing improves correlations with surface observations but deteriorates the mean error. Trajectories reveal typical SJ characteristics such as mid-level descent, strong acceleration and conditional symmetric and other mesoscale instabilities, while evaporative cooling is stronger than in previous cases, preventing drying during descent. The SJ identification and the analysis of mesoscale instabilities depend considerably on model resolution, convective parametrisation, output frequency and employed thresholds for trajectory selection. Sensitivity experiments with modified surface characteristics show that the combined effects of warm air blocking by the Alps, higher roughness over land and reduced surface fluxes cause Egon to fill more quickly and to move on a faster, more northern track across Germany. While the SJ response is complex showing some compensating effects, surface gusts strongly increase when roughness is reduced. Weather forecasters in continental ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic KITopen (Karlsruhe Institute of Technologie)
institution Open Polar
collection KITopen (Karlsruhe Institute of Technologie)
op_collection_id ftubkarlsruhe
language English
topic ddc:550
Earth sciences
info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550
spellingShingle ddc:550
Earth sciences
info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550
Eisenstein, Lea
Pantillon, Florian
Knippertz, Peter
Pinto, Joaquim G.
The Impact of Topography on the Dynamics of Sting-Jet Storm "Egon" over Continental Europe
topic_facet ddc:550
Earth sciences
info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/550
description Intense Shapiro-Keyser cyclones are often accompanied by a sting jet (SJ), an airstream that descends from the cloud head into the frontal-fracture region and can cause extreme surface wind gusts. Previous work has concentrated on cases over the North Atlantic and the British Isles. Here we present the first-ever detailed analysis of a SJ over continental Europe and investigate the influence of topography on its dynamical evolution based on observations and high-resolution simulations using the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic model (ICON). Windstorm Egon intensified over the English Channel and then tracked from northern France to Poland on 12–13 January 2017, causing wind gusts of almost 150 km h−1 and significant damages. ICON reproduces the storm evolution realistically but delays the explosive deepening, shifts the track southward over Belgium and Germany and underestimates wind gusts over land. Storm characteristics show weak sensitivity to varying grid spacing between 1.6 and 6.5 km, while switching off the convection parametrisation at 3.3 km grid spacing improves correlations with surface observations but deteriorates the mean error. Trajectories reveal typical SJ characteristics such as mid-level descent, strong acceleration and conditional symmetric and other mesoscale instabilities, while evaporative cooling is stronger than in previous cases, preventing drying during descent. The SJ identification and the analysis of mesoscale instabilities depend considerably on model resolution, convective parametrisation, output frequency and employed thresholds for trajectory selection. Sensitivity experiments with modified surface characteristics show that the combined effects of warm air blocking by the Alps, higher roughness over land and reduced surface fluxes cause Egon to fill more quickly and to move on a faster, more northern track across Germany. While the SJ response is complex showing some compensating effects, surface gusts strongly increase when roughness is reduced. Weather forecasters in continental ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Eisenstein, Lea
Pantillon, Florian
Knippertz, Peter
Pinto, Joaquim G.
author_facet Eisenstein, Lea
Pantillon, Florian
Knippertz, Peter
Pinto, Joaquim G.
author_sort Eisenstein, Lea
title The Impact of Topography on the Dynamics of Sting-Jet Storm "Egon" over Continental Europe
title_short The Impact of Topography on the Dynamics of Sting-Jet Storm "Egon" over Continental Europe
title_full The Impact of Topography on the Dynamics of Sting-Jet Storm "Egon" over Continental Europe
title_fullStr The Impact of Topography on the Dynamics of Sting-Jet Storm "Egon" over Continental Europe
title_full_unstemmed The Impact of Topography on the Dynamics of Sting-Jet Storm "Egon" over Continental Europe
title_sort impact of topography on the dynamics of sting-jet storm "egon" over continental europe
publishDate 2023
url https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000165691
genre North Atlantic
genre_facet North Atlantic
op_relation https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000165691
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