Extreme subsidence in the Agulhas-Benguela air mass transition

Abstract

Analysis of three-dimensional wind profiles recorded by an acoustic sounder near Cape Town has indicated that extreme subsidence (-35 cm s-1) is a mean feature throughout the atmospheric boundary layer (50–1000m) during summertime southerly winds. Over the SW Cape coast, the atmospheric subsidence translates into a N-S gradient of the mean summer water deficit (-20 to -32 cm month-1). The rapid drying out of the air mass along a northward trajectory is linked to a number of factors including synoptic-scale divergence of the surface wind and the effects of the local orography which produce a hydraulic jump of the southerly wind. The along-coast reduction in sea surface temperature provides a major constraint on the height of the moist marine layer. As the depth of the marine air mass shrinks, its potential for inland penetration becomes limited. In addition, dry air is entrained towards the surface as evidenced by aerial survey data. A model is formulated which indicates the importance of the surface heat fluxes in reducing the depth of the Agulhas air mass as it passes northward over the SW tip of Africa during summer.