Hydraulic Regimes of Flow over Mountains during Severe Downslope Windstorms: Novorossiysk Bora, Novaya Zemlya Bora, and Pevek Yuzhak

Abstract

Common features of the flow behavior over mountains within the hydraulic jump model are identified based on an analysis of 36 episodes of severe winds in the regions of Novorossiysk, Pevek, and Novaya Zemlya. In all these episodes, the incoming flow is characterized by a strong inversion layer at altitudes of 0.5–1.5 km and, in the case of bora, by a critical level in the wind profile in the middle troposphere, which creates conditions for a weakened dynamic interaction between the low-level air flowing over mountains and the upper layers of the atmosphere. The wind-speed increase on the lee slope is caused by the transition of the incoming flow from the subcritical to supercritical state. In this case, the velocity amplitude increases with increasing inversion intensity. Model estimates of wind-speed increase are in good agreement with observations at lee-side weather stations for episodes with a strong elevated inversion.