The triggering of orographic rainbands by small-scale topography

Kirshbaum, D. J., Bryan, G. H., Rotunno, R. and Durran, D. R. (2007) The triggering of orographic rainbands by small-scale topography. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 66 (5). pp. 1530-1549. ISSN 1520-0469 doi: 10.1175/JAS3924.1

Abstract/Summary

The triggering of convective orographic rainbands by small-scale topographic features is investigated through observations of a banded precipitation event over the Oregon Coastal Range and simulations using a cloud-resolving numerical model. A quasi-idealized simulation of the observed event reproduces the bands in the radar observations, indicating the model’s ability to capture the physics of the band-formation process. Additional idealized simulations reinforce that the bands are triggered by lee waves past small-scale topographic obstacles just upstream of the nominal leading edge of the orographic cloud. Whether a topographic obstacle in this region is able to trigger a strong rainband depends on the phase of its lee wave at cloud entry. Convective growth only occurs downstream of obstacles that give rise to lee-wave-induced displacements that create positive vertical velocity anomalies w_c and nearly zero buoyancy anomalies b_c as air parcels undergo saturation. This relationship is quantified through a simple analytic condition involving w_c, b_c, and the static stability N_m^2 of the cloud mass. Once convection is triggered, horizontal buoyancy gradients in the cross-flow direction generate circulations that align the bands parallel to the flow direction.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/4643
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Uncontrolled Keywords	Orographic effects, Rainbands, Precipitation, Topographic effects
Publisher	American Meteorological Society
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