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A theoretical study of the interactions of urban breeze circulation with mountain slope winds

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Abstract

A large number of cities around the world are located in or near complex terrain. In these regions, urban breeze circulation and mountain/valley winds are observed. Understanding interactions between urban breeze circulation and mountain/valley winds is important in a view of mesoscale atmospheric dynamics and urban air pollution. In this study, we theoretically examine the interactions of urban breeze circulation with mountain slope winds in the context of the response of the atmosphere to specified thermal forcing. Starting from linearized governing equations in two dimensions, analytical solutions for perturbation vertical velocity, horizontal velocity, buoyancy, and kinematic pressure are obtained. Then, the analytical solutions are used to examine the interactions. Urban breeze circulation and mountain slope winds evolve with time due to time-varying thermal forcing that has steady and diurnal components, and they interact with each other. Asymmetric flows are developed over the urban and mountain areas. In the daytime, low-level converging flows induced by urban heating (urban breeze) and those induced by mountain heating (upslope winds) interfere with each other, resulting in weakened flows in the mountain-side urban area and on the urban-side mountain slope. The transition from the upslope wind to downslope wind on the urban-side mountain slope occurs earlier and thus the downslope wind persists longer compared with the case that has mountain thermal forcing only. In the nighttime, flows become strong in the region between the urban center and the mountain center due to the additive interaction of the downslope wind with the urban breeze, but the flow intensity weakens with time because of weak nighttime urban heating. In the nighttime, converging flows on the plain-side urban area and the downslope wind on the rural-side mountain slope are weakened. The degree of the interactions of urban breeze circulation with mountain slope winds is shown to depend on the intensities of urban and mountain thermal forcings.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to one anonymous reviewer for providing valuable comments on this work. The first, second, and fourth authors were supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) (No. 2011-0017041). The third author was supported by the R&D project on the development of Korea's global numerical weather prediction systems of Korea Institute of Atmospheric Prediction Systems (KIAPS) funded by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742, South Korea

    Gantuya Ganbat, Jaemyeong Mango Seo & Jong-Jin Baik

  2. Korea Institute of Atmospheric Prediction Systems, Seoul, 156-849, South Korea

    Ji-Young Han

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  1. Gantuya Ganbat
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  2. Jaemyeong Mango Seo
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  3. Ji-Young Han
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  4. Jong-Jin Baik
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Correspondence to Jong-Jin Baik.

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Ganbat, G., Seo, J.M., Han, JY. et al. A theoretical study of the interactions of urban breeze circulation with mountain slope winds. Theor Appl Climatol 121, 545–555 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-014-1252-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-014-1252-6

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