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Observational and Numerical Simulation Study of a Sequence of Eight Atmospheric Density Currents in Northern Spain

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Abstract

A sequence of eight atmospheric density current fronts occurred in consecutive days are identified and analyzed using micrometeorological time series and numerical simulations. Observations were collected in the context of the INTERCLE project, which took place from September 2002 to November 2003 at the CIBA (Research Centre for the Lower Atmosphere) site located over the northern Spanish plateau. Numerical simulations used the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model with fine horizontal resolution (1 km). Both observations and simulations agree that the arrival of the density currents are characterized by a sharp change in temperature, wind velocity, wind direction and specific humidity and a source of intermittent turbulence. However, comparison between model and observations shows that the model predicts the intrusion of the density currents earlier than is observed. In addition, wavelet techniques applied to the data help distinguish the different scales present in the events, and therefore can reveal traces of gravity waves induced by the arrival of the density currents.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Spanish government through the project CGL 2012-37416-C04-04. The authors would like to thank the University of Valladolid for their contribution in obtaining the CIBA tower dataset used in this study. ECMWF ERA-Interim data used in this study have been obtained from the ECMWF Data Server.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy and Meteorology, Faculty of Physics, University of Barcelona, Martí i Franquès 1, 08028 , Barcelona, Spain

    M. R. Soler & M. Udina

  2. Department of Applied Physics, Technical University of Catalonia, Av. Bases de Manresa, 61-73, 08240 , Manresa, Spain

    E. Ferreres

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  1. M. R. Soler
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Correspondence to M. R. Soler.

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Soler, M.R., Udina, M. & Ferreres, E. Observational and Numerical Simulation Study of a Sequence of Eight Atmospheric Density Currents in Northern Spain. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 153, 195–216 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-014-9942-2

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