Dynamic and thermal effects on surface airflow associated with southerly changes over the South Island, New Zealand

Summary

The Southerly Change Experiment (SOUCHEX) was conducted to examine the influence of the New Zealand Southern Alps on the structure and evolution of cold fronts, locally called southerly changes, as they travel up the east coast. The extensive data obtained by the augmented surface weather station network is used to examine in detail the mesoscale wind field associated with the events observed during the experiment. A comparison of the wind fields observed during the different events illustrates the influence of local dynamic and thermal factors. In particular, lee trough-induced northeasterlies and thermally developed diurnal wind systems are seen to interact with the wind field created by the passage of the front over the Southern Alps.

It is apparent that the wind field associated with southerly changes responds to a variety of factors as the cold fronts propagate northwards. For example, there is a tendency for the flow to turn onshore producing a southeast wind during daytime over the Canterbury Plains south of Banks Peninsula probably due to diabatic heating of the mountains and plains. This onshore flow is in direct opposition to pre-frontal foehn northwesterly flow which often continues in the mountain regions and aloft after the front has moved up the coast. The interaction of these air masses over Canterbury creates difficulties for local forecasting. Also, the nocturnal passage of a southerly change is often difficult to detect in surface anemograph traces because of the decoupling of the boundary layer air from that above, producing low level drainage flow over the Canterbury Plains. The overall effect is to create a complex mesoscale wind field resulting from interaction of cold fronts with regional orographic and thermal influences.