Abstract
Water vapour measurements from a ground-based Raman lidar and an airborne differential absorption lidar, complemented by high resolution numerical simulations from two mesoscale models (Arome-WMED and MESO-NH), are considered to investigate transition events from Mistral/Tramontane to southerly marine flow taking place over the Gulf of Lion in Southern France in the time frame September-October 2012, during the Hydrological Cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX) Special Observation Period 1 (SOP1). Low-level wind reversals associated with these transitions are found to have a strong impact on water vapour transport, leading to a large variability of the water vapour vertical and horizontal distribution. The high spatial and temporal resolution of the lidar data allow to monitor the time evolution of the three-dimensional water vapour field during these transitions from predominantly northerly Mistral/Tramontane flow to a predominantly southerly flow, allowing to identify the quite sharp separation between these flows, which is also quite well captured by the mesoscale models.
Highlights
Mistral and Tramontane are two strong dry northerly winds which are often found to blow in the Mediterranean basin
This research effort is dedicated to the measurements performed by the ground-based University of BASILicata Raman Lidar system (BASIL,[4]) and the airborne differential absoption lidar (DIAL) system LEANDRE 2 [5], which are used to illustrate the high time and space variability of the water vapour field associated with the occurrence of transition events from Mistral/Tramontane to southerly marine flow in Southern France during Hydrological Cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX)-SOP 1
In the frame of HyMeX-Special Observation Period 1 (SOP1), BASIL was deployed in Candillargues and operated between 5 September and 5 November 2012, collecting more than 600 hours of measurements, distributed over 51 measurement days and 19 intensive observation periods (IOPs)
Summary
Mistral and Tramontane are two strong dry northerly winds which are often found to blow in the Mediterranean basin. This research effort is dedicated to the measurements performed by the ground-based University of BASILicata Raman Lidar system (BASIL,[4]) and the airborne differential absoption lidar (DIAL) system LEANDRE 2 [5], which are used to illustrate the high time and space variability of the water vapour field associated with the occurrence of transition events from Mistral/Tramontane to southerly marine flow in Southern France during HyMeX-SOP 1. Measurements from these two systems are used to validate the numerical simulations from the mesoscale model MESONH and the mesoscale numerical weather prediction model AROME-WMED
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