Numerical and observational case-study of a deep Adriatic bora

Abstract

A detailed analysis of bora winds is presented that were observed on 28 March 2002 in the north-eastern part of the Adriatic Sea. Very high-resolution numerical simulations are compared with airborne, surface, and balloon observations. The key instrument for the verification of the numerical results is an aerosol backscatter lidar on board the DLR Falcon research aircraft. The high spatial resolution of the model and of the observational dataset allows several small-scale aspects of the bora winds to be explored. The study emphasises the great impact of boundary-layer effects including convective mixing and surface friction on the structure of the bora flow. The numerical model reveals that the diurnal cycle of the planetary boundary layer causes a diurnal variation of the gravity-wave amplitude and consequently a variation in the bora strength. The downslope flow is strongest during the night-time when the impinging air mass is stably stratified and exhibits a low-level jet. The bora strength weakens during the daytime due to the evolution of a neutrally stratified convective boundary layer. Lidar observations and simulations both suggest that the observed bora winds are driven by the dynamics of orographic gravity waves. In the deep north-easterly cross-mountain flow steeply amplified but non-breaking gravity waves as well as trapped lee waves are found throughout the troposphere. Vertical separation of the boundary layer over the steep leeward terrain slope prevents the bora flow from reaching the coast. As a result, the flow is kept aloft in a series of at least three unsteady trapped lee waves before it reattaches to the surface over the sea downstream of the mountains. No clear evidence is found for the existence of low-level rotors underneath these lee waves. The ability of the model to capture the trapped waves is found to depend on the horizontal model resolution. Bora winds are identified as jets emanating from several mountain gaps. The physical mechanism for the gap flow formation is boundary-layer separation controlled by surface friction. Flow separation is more effective over the highest terrain where a broad wake forms downstream with weak winds compared to the mountain gaps where the strong bora flow eventually reattaches to the surface. The strongest gap jet belongs to the Vratnik Pass upstream of the town Senj and forms the primary shear line in the northern Adriatic with a corresponding potential-vorticity (PV) banner. The numerical model reveals several secondary orographic PV banners and embedded PV filaments. The vertical PV distribution exhibits a two-layer structure with PV anomalies at lower (higher) elevations originating from mountain gaps (isolated mountain peaks). Surface friction has a minor direct effect on PV generation but has a major indirect effect in controlling the mechanism for the generation of PV. In a simulation without surface friction the primary PV banner forms as a result of gravity-wave breaking. In the more realistic simulation, however, the primary mechanism for PV generation is flow separation controlled by surface friction. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society