Abstract
An impressive cloud wall has frequently been observed on the southern slopes of the Vatnajökull ice sheet, which is located in south-eastern Iceland. Its optical and dynamic features suggest a delicate balance of the atmospheric agents involved. This has been confirmed by a thorough analysis of a well documented event and by statistics covering a whole summer season. As an exemplary event, the regional development of the associated cloud has basically been documented with synchronous surface data along a suitable transect of the glacier. Data from tethered balloons, radiosoundings and routine synoptic data have also been exploited extensively. Cloud development was generally aided by a high moisture potential because of proximity to the open seas and the remnants of a frontal system. Furthermore the occurrence of the cloud phenomenon was associated with onshore (southerly) surface winds, assisting advection and lifting of the associated air masses above the slopes of the ice sheet. Northward protrusion of the associated cloud was apparently opposed by continuous katabatic winds and topographically induced lee effects.
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Kaltenböck, R., Obleitner, F. On A Low Cloud Phenomenon At The Breidamerkurjökull Glacier, Iceland. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 92, 145–162 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1001878013148
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1001878013148