Identification

Title

Wind profiler observations of mountain waves and rotors during T-REX

Abstract

A network of three boundary layer radar wind profilers is used to study characteristics of mountain waves and rotors and to explore the utility of such a network. The data employed were collected as part of the Terrain-Induced Rotor Experiment (T-REX), which took place in Owens Valley, California, in early 2006. The wind profilers provide a continuous time–height representation of wave and rotor structure. During intensive observing period 3 (IOP 3), the profiler network was positioned in an L-shaped configuration, capturing key features of the mountain waves and rotor, including the boundary layer vortex sheet (or shear layer), turbulence within this shear layer, the classical lower turbulence zone (LTZ), and wave motion above the LTZ. Observed features were found to be in good agreement with recent high-resolution numerical simulations. Using the wind profiler with superior time resolution (Multiple Antenna Profiler Radar), a series of updraft–downdraft couplets were observed beneath the first downwind wave crest. These are interpreted as signatures of subrotors. Such detailed observations of subrotors are rare, even though subrotors are believed to be a common feature of rotor circulations in Owens Valley. During IOP 6, the network was repositioned to form a line across the valley. A simple algorithm was used to determine the amplitude, wavelength, and phase of the primary wave over the valley and to observe their changes over time and height. In the IOP-6 case, the wavelength increased over time, the phase indicated an eastward-shifting wave crest, and the amplitude increased with height and also varied over time.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7w959pw

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2010-11-23T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

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name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

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Use constraints

Copyright 2010 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact