Comparisons of Models and Observations of Nocturnal Slope Winds

摘要

Both the one- and two-dimensional models discussed here have applications in the study of drainage winds. The hydraulic approach suffers from an inability to incorporate the effects of ambient winds and an apparent lack of similarity between atmospheric behavior and the tank experiments on which it is based. Nevertheless, it provides useful estimates for the depths to which significant temperature inversions are observed and in which velocity maxima will be found. The two-dimensional model is more complicated to apply, but is more flexible and provides a more accurate description of the observations. Its relatively good success, without the necessity of incorporating a large number of undetermined parameters, suggests that it adequately describes the principal physical mechanisms responsible for drainage winds. It therefore serves as a basis for the study of additional, complicating factors such as cloud cover and canopy effects.