Adverse impact of terrain steepness on thermally driven  initiation of orographic convection

Göbel, Matthias; Serafin, Stefano; Rotach, Mathias W.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-725-2023

Articles | Volume 4, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-725-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-725-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 4, issue 3

Research article

|

31 Aug 2023

Research article |

| 31 Aug 2023

Adverse impact of terrain steepness on thermally driven initiation of orographic convection

Matthias Göbel, Stefano Serafin, and Mathias W. Rotach

Data sets

Data and code for "Adverse impact of terrain steepness on thermally-driven initiation of orographic convection" M. Göbel https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8046464

Model code and software

WRFlux: V1.6.0 M. Göbel https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8046529

Data and code for "Adverse impact of terrain steepness on thermally-driven initiation of orographic convection" M. Göbel https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8046464

Short summary

On summer days over mountains, upslope winds transport moist air towards mountain tops and beyond, making local rain showers more likely. We use idealized simulations to investigate how mountain steepness affects this mechanism. We find that steeper mountains lead to a delayed onset and lower intensity of the storms, because less moisture accumulates over the ridges and the thermal updraft zone at the top is narrower and thus more prone to the intrusion of dry air from the environment.