Where is mountain wave turbulence located?
Where is mountain wave turbulence located?
lee
Mountain waves develop on the lee, or downwind, side of mountains. These waves are generated when strong winds flowing toward mountains in a generally perpendicular fashion are raised up over the mountains.
What side of the mountain is the leeward?
The leeward side is the side of the mountain that is downwind. There is less wind on this side because it is blocked by the mountain on the other side. The leeward side of a mountain is usually dry compared to the windward side.
What is a mountain lee?
Opposite from the windward side is the lee side—the side sheltered from the prevailing wind. This is often the eastern side of the mountain range because prevailing winds in the mid-latitudes blow from the west, but that is not necessarily always the case.
How far does mountain wave turbulence go?
Strong lift and Clear Air Turbulence may extend up to 100,000 ft. Vertically-propagating waves with sufficient amplitude may break, and result in severe Clear Air Turbulence between 20,000 and 40,000 feet. If the wave does not break, the main turbulence hazard is the low level rotor area.
On what side of the mountain do mountain waves form?
windward side
Mountain waves are the result of flowing air being forced to rise up the windward side of a mountain barrier, then as a result of certain atmospheric conditions, sinking down the leeward side.
Can you fly through a lenticular cloud?
For this reason, the clouds are often known as standing lenticular clouds because they stand still over the mountain. This is one of the few types of cloud that you can fly through sideways in an airplane, as the wind blows the aircraft into and then out of the cloud.
What are mountain lee waves?
Mountain lee waves are ducted waves that extend long distances downwind from the mountain. We have see in Chapter 3 that a mountain generates a spectrum of vertically propagating gravity waves.
What type of clouds are associated with lee waves?
Rotor clouds have ragged leeward edges and are dangerously turbulent. A foehn wall cloud may exist at the lee side of the mountains, however this is not a reliable indication of the presence of lee waves.
How are lee waves produced in turbulent vortexes?
Usually a turbulent vortex, with its axis of rotation parallel to the mountain range, is generated around the first trough; this is called a rotor. The strongest lee waves are produced when the lapse rate shows a stable layer above the obstruction, with an unstable layer above and below.
When does the mountain-induced disturbance take the form of a wave?
When ε ≪ 1, the mountain-induced disturbance for all β takes the form of a small-amplitude mountain wave ( see Mountain Meteorology: Lee Waves and Mountain Waves for examples of small-amplitude waves). The flow in this regime is well described by linear theoretical approaches, which are valid in the limit of small ε.