Observations of gap flow in the Wipp Valley on 20 October 1999: Evidence of subsidence

Abstract

Using extensive observations collected from various platforms around the Brenner Pass in the Austrian Alps during the Mesoscale Alpine Programme, a detailed description of the kinematic and thermodynamic structure of the shallow-foehn event that occurred on 20 October 1999 in the Wipp Valley is constructed. Downstream of the gap the flow develops a well-mixed surface layer capped by a relatively strong temperature inversion of 5-6 K. Such inversions are often assumed to be kinematically similar to the free surface at the top of a liquid; however, the data suggest the presence of strong subsidence through the mean position of the inversion layer capping the flow. Such subsidence is supported by in situ aircraft observations and Doppler lidar measurements but is not consistent with the observed turbulent heat fluxes, which are too small to account for the diabatic heating required by the isentrope-relative downward velocities. The 1-Hz time resolution of the P3 data may, however, be too coarse to correctly capture the full turbulent heat flux. © 2009 American Meteorological Society.