Observations of the Saharan boundary layer, made during the GERBILS field campaign, show that mesoscale land surface temperature variations (which were related to albedo variations) induced mesoscale circulations. With weak winds along the aircraft track, land surface temperature anomalies with scales of greater than 10 km are shown to significantly affect boundary-layer temperatures and winds. Such anomalies are expected to affect the vertical mixing of the dusty and weakly stratified Saharan Residual Layer (SRL). Mesoscale variations in winds are also shown to affect dust loadings in the boundary layer. Using the aircraft observations and data from the COSMO model, a region of local dust uplift, with strong along-track winds, was identified in one low-level flight. Large eddy model (LEM) simulations based on this location showed linearly organised boundary-layer convection. Calculating dust uplift rates from the LEM wind field showed that the boundary-layer convection increased uplift by approximately 30%, compared with the uplift rate calculated neglecting the convection. The modelled effects of boundary-layer convection on uplift are shown to be larger when the boundary-layer wind is decreased, and most significant when the mean wind is below the threshold for dust uplift and the boundary-layer convection leads to uplift which would not otherwise occur. Both the coupling of albedo features to the atmosphere on the mesoscale, and the enhancement of dust uplift by boundary-layer convection are unrepresented in many climate models, but may have significant impacts on the vertical transport and uplift of desert dust. Mesoscale effects in particular tend to be difficult to parametrise.

During stable nighttime periods, large variations in temperature and visibility often occur over short distances in regions of only moderate topography. These are of great practical significance and yet pose major forecasting challenges because of a lack of detailed understanding of the processes involved and because crucial topographic variations are often not resolved in current forecast models. This paper describes a field and numerical modeling campaign, Cold-Air Pooling Experiment (COLPEX), which addresses many of the issues. The observational campaign was run for 15 months in Shropshire, United Kingdom, in a region of small hills and valleys with typical ridge–valley heights of 75–150 m and valley widths of 1–3 km. The instrumentation consisted of three sites with instrumented flux towers, a Doppler lidar, and a network of 30 simpler meteorological stations. Further instrumentation was deployed during intensive observation periods including radiosonde launches from two sites, a cloud droplet probe, ... During stable nighttime periods, large variations in temperature and visibility often occur over short distances in regions of only moderate topography. These are of great practical significance and yet pose major forecasting challenges because of a lack of detailed understanding of the processes involved and because crucial topographic variations are often not resolved in current forecast models. This paper describes a field and numerical modeling campaign, Cold-Air Pooling Experiment (COLPEX), which addresses many of the issues. The observational campaign was run for 15 months in Shropshire, United Kingdom, in a region of small hills and valleys with typical ridge–valley heights of 75–150 m and valley widths of 1–3 km. The instrumentation consisted of three sites with instrumented flux towers, a Doppler lidar, and a network of 30 simpler meteorological stations. Further instrumentation was deployed during intensive observation periods including radiosonde launches from two sites, a cloud droplet probe, ...

An overview of advances in the observation, modelling, forecasting, and understanding of flows through gaps achieved in the Mesoscale Alpine Programme is given. Gaps are lateral constrictions of topography (level gaps) often combined with vertical terrain changes (passes). Of the possible flow configurations, only an asymmetric one (relatively deep and slow upstream, accelerating and thinning downstream), which connects two different ‘reservoirs’ on each side of the gap, is examined. The flow is strongly nonlinear, making hydraulics (reduced‐gravity shallow‐water theory) rather than linear theory the simplest conceptual model to describe gap flow. Results from idealized topographical and flow conditions are presented, together with gap flows through a pass in the central Alpine Wipp Valley. For a given depth of the upstream reservoir, the gap controls the mass flux through it and marks the transition from a subcritical flow state upstream to a supercritical one downstream, which eventually adjusts to the downstream ‘reservoir’ in a hydraulic jump. Three gap flow prototypes were found: a classical layer one with neutral stratification and a capping inversion and two with a continuous stratification, for which a special analytical self‐similar hydraulic solution exists. In all three cases, a deepening wedge of nearly mixed and stagnant air forms on top of the gap flow plunging down from the pass. The descent causes a warming and (relative) drying of the air, making gap flows a special case of föhn. Topographical variations smaller than the gap scale cause additional hydraulic jumps, flow separation, vorticity banners, gravity waves, and interactions with cold pools. Turbulent friction cannot be neglected. The climatological frequency of gap flows depends on the establishment of two different reservoirs and reaches 20% for the Wipp Valley. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society

This paper examines current understanding of the influence of orographic flow dynamics on the turbulent transport of momentum and scalar quantities above complex terrain. It highlights three key low-level orographic flow phenomena governed by gravity-wave dynamics: Foehn flow, atmospheric rotors and gravity-wave modulation of the stable boundary layer. Recent observations and numerical simulations are used to illustrate how these flows can cause significant departures from the turbulent fluxes, which occur over flat terrain. Orographically forced fluxes of heat, moisture and chemical constituents are currently unaccounted for in numerical models. Moreover, whilst turbulent orographic drag parameterisation schemes are available (in some models), these do not represent the large gravity-wave scales associated with foehn dynamics; nor do they account for the spatio-temporal heterogeneity and non-local turbulence advection observed in wave-rotor dynamics or the gravity waves, which modulate turbulence in the boundary layer. The implications for numerical models, which do not resolve these flows, and for the parametrisation schemes, which should account for the unresolved fluxes, are discussed. An overarching need is identified for improved understanding of the heterogeneity in sub-grid-scale processes, such as turbulent fluxes, associated with orographic flows, and to develop new physically-based approaches for parameterizing these processes.

Simple first‐order closure remains an attractive way of formulating equations for complex canopy flows when the aim is to find analytic or simple numerical solutions to illustrate fundamental physical processes. Nevertheless, the limitations of such closures must be understood if the resulting models are to illuminate rather than mislead. We propose five conditions that first‐order closures must satisfy, then test two widely used closures against them. The first is the eddy diffusivity based on a mixing length. We discuss the origins of this approach, its use in simple canopy flows and extensions to more complex flows. We find that it satisfies most of the conditions and, because the reasons for its failures are well understood, it is a reliable methodology. The second is the velocity‐squared closure that relates shear stress to the square of mean velocity. Again we discuss the origins of this closure and show that it is based on incorrect physical principles and fails to satisfy any of the five conditions in complex canopy flows; consequently its use can lead to actively misleading conclusions.

A numerical model simulation of the formation of a cold pool within a narrow valley during a clear calm night is presented. The results are compared with measurements made during the COLd air Pooling EXperiment (COLPEX). It is demonstrated that the model provides a realistic simulation of the observed cold pool. The cold pool begins to form approximately 1.5 hours before sunset, when the near‐surface air within the valley starts to cool more rapidly than the air on the surrounding hills. The model potential temperature budget is used to determine which physical processes are most important for the evolution of the cold pool. The results show that sheltering provided by the valley causes a turbulent heat flux divergence over the lowest 5 m above the valley floor, which is large compared with the other terms in the budget. This causes relatively rapid cooling of the air adjacent to the ground. On the surrounding hills the turbulent heat flux divergence is larger than in the valley, but the enhanced cooling this provides is approximately balanced by an almost equally large warming tendency from advection. The net effect of these two terms is small compared with that in the valley and therefore the cooling rate is smaller. Above 5 m, the cooling in the valley is dominated by local transport of cold air away from the surface into the interior valley atmosphere.