The development and structure of nocturnal slope winds in a simple valley

Abstract

The results of an observational and modeling study of the nocturnal slope winds in a simple valley are presented. The valley was approximately 225 m deep in the region of the measurements, and featured a uniform slope angle of approximately 23 ° on one of its sidewalls. The wind and temperature structure of the katabatic flows on the valley sidewalls were measured with tower-mounted instruments, and a Doppler sodar and instruments on a tethered balloon and a 61-m tower were used to determine the atmospheric conditions near the center of the valley. The temperature structure of the slope flows was summarized by characteristic scale parameters h and δT for the inversion depth and strength, respectively. On the sidewalls 50 m above the valley floor, the inversion depths were generally smaller and the inversion strengths were weaker than they were on the sidewalls 100 m higher. These results differ significantly from those obtained over a simple slope of an isolated mountain or ridge. The down-valley winds are shown to be important in limiting the strength of the sidewall inversions. The formation of an inversion in the valley also has a pronounced effect on the structure of the slope flows. Numerical simulations suggest that the presence of adiabatic layers in the valley atmosphere is associated with decreases in the slope-flow inversion depth with increasing downslope distance. The simulations also indicate that the length scales that characterize the momentum and inversion depths behave similarly in flows down simple slopes but not in flows down the sidewalls of a valley.