Diurnal Circulation of the Bolivan Altiplano. Part I: Observations

In July and August 2003 a field campaign was conducted to explore the diurnal circulation of the Bolivian Altiplano. Vertical soundings by remote-controlled aircraft yielded profiles of temperature, pressure, and humidity at six passes and in a valley. Pilot balloon observations provided wind profiles. Two permanent stations collected additional data. Typically, inflow toward the Altiplano commences a few hours after sunrise at about the time when the stable nocturnal layer near the ground is transformed by the solar heating into an almost neutrally stratified convective boundary layer. The depth of the inflow layer is comparable to but normally less than that of this boundary layer. There are indications of return flow aloft. The inflow continues at least until sunset. Moisture is imported at the passes leading to the Yungas in the east. Strong upvalley flows were found in the valley of the Rio de La Paz, which connects the wide canyon of La Paz with the tropical lowlands to the east. Inflow was absent at one of the passes despite favorable synoptic conditions. Cases of synoptically forced flows are presented as well where the diurnal signal is difficult to separate. A simple flow scheme is presented that fits the observations reasonably well

Evaluating probabilistic forecasts using information theory

The nature of African easterly waves (AEWs) and the easterly wave season over West Africa are examined using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis. The study is carried out with two objectives in mind. The first goal is to describe the seasonal cycle of wave activity and to determine if it has a distinctive signature. To achieve this, the temporal evolution of wave period, amplitude, and structure are examined with wavelet analysis. This analysis is carried out at a grid point (15°N, 0°) that is at located where AEWs are well developed. The second goal is to determine differences in the wave characteristics and the wave season between wet and dry years.Regarding the seasonal cycle, it was found, in accordance with previous research, that AEW activity typically occurs between May and October. Disturbances have a periodicity between 4 and 8 days. At the level (600 mb) of the African easterly jet (AEJ) there was a broad peak in the magnitude of the variance over the months of July, August, and September. This may be due to the increased horizontal shear and barotropic instability, which also peaks at that time. There is a greater contribution of variance from longer periods (6.25–7.5 days) in the later half of the summer. At lower levels, the disturbances appear to be confined to periods of 3.75–5.0 days, with the maximum variance in the mean occurring in July. This may be a response to the change in the magnitude of the vertical shear beneath the AEJ on the same timescale.It was found that the wave season in wet years tended to be longer and more active. This may be due to the more northerly track of the AEJ in wet years. Wet years were also characterized by stronger waves at 600 mb. These stronger waves may be due to the stronger shear around the AEJ in wet years. At the lower level there were less consistent differences between wet and dry years. This may reflect the fact that although the AEJ is weaker in wet years, westerlies beneath it are often stronger. The net effect being that there are not consistent differences in the vertical shear between wet and dry years

FLOHOF 2007: an overview of the mesoscale meteorological field campaign at Hofsjökull, Central Iceland

The FLOHOF field campaign took place in the period July 21 to August 24, 2007 on and in the surroundings of Hofsjökull glacier in Central Iceland. During the campaign, 18 automatic weather stations (AWS) recording temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, pressure, and precipitation were deployed on and around the glacier. In addition, atmospheric soundings were performed N and S of Hofsjökull by a tethered balloon, pilot balloons, and two unmanned aerial systems (UAS). An energy balance station, consisting of a net radiometer and an eddy correlation flux measurement station, has also been installed. This paper describes the experimental setup of the campaign and presents first results of the data analysis with respect to transience of mountain-induced gravity waves, the extension of katabatic winds into the surrounding of the glacier, the occurrence of katabatic microfronts, and report on novel approaches to probe the vertical structure of the atmospheric boundary layer by UAS. The observed pressure perturbations related to transient gravity wave activity due to changing inflow conditions were between −2 and 2 hPa in general, with positive values upstream and negative values downstream. Differential heating of the glacier and its surrounding is triggering daytime katabatic flow from the glacier into its surrounding. During the campaign, those katabatic winds typically reached out 4–7 km from the edge of the glacier. During late night in clear sky conditions, frontal-like microstructures have been observed frequently with typical repetition times in the order of 30–60 min indicating the interaction of large-scale synoptic and nighttime katabatic density flows close to the ground. The first research application of the newly developed small unmanned meteorological observer proved the applicability of the system for atmospheric boundary layer research by successfully profiling the atmosphere up to 3.5 km above ground