South foehn in the Wipp Valley ? Innsbruck region: Numerical simulations of the 24 October 1999 case (MAP-IOP 10)

Abstract

Numerical simulations of the 24 October 1999 south foehn (MAP-IOP 10) are performed with the Penn State/NCAR mesoscale model MM5 for the Wipp Valley and the adjacent parts of the Inn Valley. The model is run in a multiple-nest configuration, the area of interest being resolved at a mesh size of 800 m in most experiments. The study serves to complement an earlier work in which typical flow features of the foehn in the Wipp Valley region were investigated by means of idealized simulations, assessing whether it is possible to reproduce the temporal evolution and the spatial structure of a particular foehn case. A further objective of the paper is to examine the dependence of the model performance on the horizontal resolution, giving some information which resolution will probably be needed for future high-resolution forecasts.