Elmar R. Reiter

Jet-Stream Structure and Clear-Air Turbulence (CAT)

Abstract Cloud-photogrammetric studies conducted from the ground reveal the existence of wave perturbations near tropopause level, of a wavelength the same order of magnitude as is experienced in clear-air turbulence. A case study of the CAT occurrence on 13 April 1962 reveals the importance of the confluence mechanism of two jet streams, and the turning of wind with height in CAT generation.

A CASE STUDY OF RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT

Abstract During September 1961 a series of balloon ascents made from Flin Flon, Canada, carrying scintillation counters sensitive to gamma radiation, revealed the existence of shallow stable atmospheric layers carrying radioactive debris, presumably from the Russian test series during the same month. The debris layers encountered on 14 and 15 September have been studied in particular. The debris detected over Flin Flon on 14 September, 2221 GCT, at 650 mb had undergone strong sinking motion. One may conclude that it came from the region immediately underneath the tropopause shortly prior to 13 September, 12 GCT, entering the middle troposphere through the stable layer underneath the jet core, sometimes referred to as a “jet-stream front.” Beginning with 17 September a distinct area of radioactive fallout begins to appear at the surface over the eastern United States. Some of this debris seems to be identical with the one detected over Flin Flon, and it apparently was transported by the same jet stream. Pa...

Aspects of regional-scale flows in mountainous terrain

Abstract Mountaintop data from remote stations in the central Rocky Mountains have been used to analyze terrain-induced regional (meso-β to meso-α) scale circulation patterns. The circulation consists of a diurnally oscillating wind regime, varying between daytime inflow toward, and nocturnal outflow from, the highest terrain. Both individual case days and longer term averages reveal these circulation characteristics. The persistence and broadscale organization of nocturnal outflow at mountaintop, well removed from valley drainage processes, demonstrates that this flow is part of a distinct regime within the hierarchy of terrain-induced wind systems. The diurnal cycle of summertime convective storm development imparts a strong influence upon regional-scale circulation patterns. Subcloud cooling processes, associated with deep moist convection, alter the circulation by producing early and abrupt shifts in the regional winds from an inflow to outflow direction. These wind events occur frequently when moist ...

The Prediction of Clear Air Turbulence over Mountainous Terrain

Abstract Recent aircraft measurements of clear air turbulence over Australia have shown that the phenomenon of CAT in a thermally stable environment is associated with a breakdown of waves, presumably gravity waves or Helmholtz waves on a stable interface, into random turbulent eddies. The energy distribution in the wavelength range in which clear air turbulence is experienced seems to follow the “−5/3 law” postulated by Kolmogorovs similarity hypothesis. The “−5/3 law” seems to extend to much longer wavelengths than previously anticipated. Combining these results of aircraft measurements with the theory on lee waves which has been derived by the use of perturbation equations, one finds that the energy involved in standing lee waves over mountains may “cascade” down from a wavelength range of approximately 10 km to a range near 100 m which then would be experienced as clear air turbulence, provided that the energy levels are high enough to cause any responses in an aircraft. This physical model of turbul...

Transition of surface energy budget in the Gobi Desert between spring and summer seasons

Abstract An investigation of the transition between spring and summer seasons of the surface energy budget in the Gobi desert is presented. The motivation behind this study is to determine eventually the degree to which changes in a desert system can be monitored over a short-term climate time scale (decadel) by remote means. A seasonal transition is used to evaluate the control factors involved in a variational process. The measurements incorporated in the analysis were obtained in 1984 from a specialized surface energy budget monitoring system deployed at a site in the western Gobi desert, just north of the northeastern edge of the Tibet Plateau in western Gansu province, P.R.C. The data were collected during the spring and summer periods in 1984 by a joint team of United States and Chinese scientists. Results of the analysis reveal an interesting feature of the seasonal transition which had not been expected of a midlatitude desert. That is, although radiative forcing at the surface is altered between ...

Tibet Revisited—TIPMEX-86

A long-planned field-measurement program to determine surface-energy budgets at two sites in Tibet was carried out during June 1986 in collaboration with scientists from the State Meteorological Administration, Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Peoples Republic of China. The data set obtained in Tibet is unique for this remote region of the world. The present report describes some of the experiences of the United States scientific team and its medical officer, M. Otteman of Ft. Collins, Colorado. The data are presently being archived on computer tapes. Preliminary analysis results are presented as typical examples of the conditions encountered at the two experimental sites near Lhasa (3635 m) and Nagqu (4500 m).

ROMPEX—The Rocky Mountain Peaks Experiment of 1985: Preliminary Assessment

Abstract During the late summer of 1985 a field experiment was conducted to investigate mountaintop winds over a broad area of the Rocky Mountains extending from south central Wyoming through northern New Mexico. The principal motivation for this experiment was to further investigate an unexpectedly strong and potentially important wind cycle observed at mountaintop in north central Colorado during August 1984. These winds frequently exhibited nocturnal maxima of 20 to 30 m·s−1 from southeasterly directions and often persisted for eight to ten hours. It appears that these winds originate as outflow from intense mesoscale convective systems that form daily over highland areas along the Continental Divide. However, details of the spatial extent and variability of these winds could not be determined from “routine” regional weather data that are mostly collected in valleys. Although synoptic conditions during much of the 1985 experiment period did not favor diurnally recurring convection over the study area, ...

Case study of an unusual long-range sulfur transport episode

Abstract Observations of extremely high fine particulate sulfur concentrations during early April 1983 in the western United States are linked to a strong cyclone over the midwestern United States. The strong winds around this cyclone circulated polluted midwestern air as far west as the Pacific Coast. A retrograding upper wave pattern was conducive for this polluted air to move southwestward. Both a long-range trajectory analysis and a subjective evaluation of synoptic conditions confirm this hypothesis.