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Airflow over a two‐dimensional escarpment. II: Hydrostatic flow
Author(s) -
Pitts R. O.,
Lyons T. J.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49711649207
Subject(s) - escarpment , hydrostatic equilibrium , boundary layer , flow (mathematics) , geology , mechanics , mesoscale meteorology , airflow , hydraulic jump , fault scarp , meteorology , physics , geomorphology , climatology , seismology , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics , fault (geology)
Hydrostatically dominated forced flow over the asymmetric topography of the Darling Scarp, Western Australia, is modelled using a hydrostatic numerical mesoscale model and compared with observations. Simulations reproduce the essential features of wave overturning and the development of a shooting hydraulic flow. This response is dependent on the wind profile but not on the existence of a critical level. the high backsheared environment leads to a high ratio of the Brunt‐Väisälä frequency to wind speed throughout the profile, resulting in short wavelengths, high nonlinearity and overturning. With the ratio of the halfwidth of the topography to the boundary‐layer depth being small, the flow fields are shown to be sensitive to the boundary layer.