External influences on nocturnal thermally driven flows in a deep valley

Abstract

The dynamics that govern the evolution of nighttime flows in a deep valley, California's Owens Valley, are analyzed. Measurements from the Terrain-Induced Rotor Experiment (T-REX) reveal a pronounced valley-wind system with often nonclassical flow evolution. Two cases with a weak high pressure ridge over the study area but very different valley flow evolution are presented. The first event is characterized by the appearance of a layer of southerly flow after midnight local time, sandwiched between a thermally driven low-level downvalley (northerly) flow and a synoptic northwesterly flow aloft. The second event is characterized by an unusually strong and deep downvalley jet, exceeding 15 m s-1. The analysis is based on the T-REX measurement data and the output of high-resolution large-eddy simulations using the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS). Using horizontal grid spacings of 1 km and 350 m, ARPS reproduces the observed flow features for these two cases very well. It is found that the low-level along-valley forcing of the valley wind is the result of a superposition of the local thermal forcing and a midlevel (2-2.5 km MSL) along-valley pressure forcing. The analysis shows that the large difference in valley flow evolution derives primarily from differences in the midlevel pressure forcing, and that the Owens Valley is particularly susceptible to these midlevel external influences because of its specific geometry. The results demonstrate the delicate interplay of forces that can combine to determine the valley flow structure on any given night. © 2009 American Meteorological Society.