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Atmospheric tides over the Pyrenees: observational study and numerical simulation
Author(s) -
Díaz de Argandoña J.,
Ezcurra A.,
Sáenz J.,
Campistron B.,
IbarraBerastegi G.,
Saïd F.
Publication year - 2010
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.626
Subject(s) - climatology , diabatic , diurnal temperature variation , weather research and forecasting model , environmental science , range (aeronautics) , atmospheric sciences , sea breeze , diurnal cycle , wind speed , geology , oceanography , physics , composite material , thermodynamics , materials science , adiabatic process
Barometric tides around the Pyrenees mountain range are analyzed by means of synoptic surface‐station data recorded during one year, surface data from the Pyrenees Experiment (PYREX) and the CRA/LA Very High Frequency (VHF) wind profiler installed in the north of the range. Tides are decomposed into their diurnal and semi‐diurnal components. Diurnal tides show a strong non‐migrating component and are very dependent on local conditions. Semi‐diurnal tides are more homogeneous and present a north–south asymmetry, also noted in the Alps. This cross‐range asymmetry could be related to some interference effect caused by the mountain range in the migrating semi‐diurnal tide wave. The asymmetry of the diurnal component presents a very strong seasonal variation, probably related to local diabatic effects. A three‐month long simulation has been carried out with the National Center for Atmospheric Research's Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) limited‐area model to try to reproduce the tide structure. The validation of the results with wind‐profiler data shows reasonable agreement with the observed diurnal tide and poorer results for the semi‐diurnal component. At surface level, however, the model reproduces some of the features of the observed semi‐diurnal tide, and especially the cross‐range asymmetry. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society