Cold frontal structure derived from radar wind profilers

Browning, K. A.; Jerrett, D.; Nash, John F.; Oakley, Tim; Roberts, N. M.

doi:10.1017/s1350482798000784

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…They were marked by the presence of a sharp, low-level cold frontal boundary indicative of line convection where the system's warm conveyor belt has a system-relative rearward flow, and rises sharply at the cold frontal boundary at this point. This is similar to the detailed case study by Browning et al (1998) where cross-frontal motions in an ana-cold front were observed by the MST radar and a co-located 915 MHz RADIAN LAP-3000 wind profiler.…”

Section: Placing the Events In Their Synoptic Contextsupporting

confidence: 85%

A climatology of mid-tropospheric mesoscale strong wind events as observed by the MST radar, Aberystwyth

Parton¹,

Dore²,

Vaughan³

2010

Met. Apps

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Continuous sounding of the troposphere by the NERC Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) wind profiling radar, mid-Wales, since late 1997 provides a unique dataset with which to study the mesoscale wind field of the mid-troposphere over the United Kingdom. A wind speed probability density function (PDF) generated from 7 years of data is used to design a feature-finding algorithm to identify mesoscale strong wind events in the radar dataset. The resulting 117 events form a climatology of mesoscale strong wind features at mid-tropospheric heights over the British Isles, defined as peak wind speeds at or above the top 1% of the PDF, wind speeds exceeding the top 5% for at least 1 h, and extending over at least 1 km in depth. Plotting the location of the peak winds of these features on schematic charts of the Norwegian and Shapiro-Keyser models of cyclogenesis show these to be mainly warm sector and cold frontal in nature, with smaller numbers of tropopause folds and sting jets. Wind roses indicate a prevailing westerly direction for mid-tropospheric winds generally, but the strong wind events are distinctly different: cold frontal and warm sector events prevail from the south to southwest, tropopause folds from the northwest and sting jets from the west. The wider applicability of the results to the British Isles is established through comparison with radiosonde data from five sites covering the British Isles.

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Section: Placing the Events In Their Synoptic Contextsupporting

confidence: 85%

A climatology of mid-tropospheric mesoscale strong wind events as observed by the MST radar, Aberystwyth

Parton¹,

Dore²,

Vaughan³

2010

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“…If so, could their variability be described? We would expect some success with this approach as VHF radars have previously been used to identify mid and upper tropospheric fronts (Neiman and Shapiro, 1989; Neiman et al , 1992, 1998, 2001; Spencer et al , 1996; Browning et al , 1998; Lucas et al , 2001; Pavelin et al , 2003). Indeed, Lucas et al (2001) automated an algorithm to detect fronts in data from a VHF wind profiler, but the signal‐to‐noise ratio of the Aberystwyth radar is significantly better than for the radar they used.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Classifying fronts in data from a VHF wind-profiling radar

Lawson

Vaughan

Schultz

2011

Atmosph. Sci. Lett.

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Many fronts over the UK do not fit the traditional conceptual model of a single maximum of vertical shear of the horizontal wind sloped over the cold air. A 2-year climatology of 296 cold, warm, and occluded fronts from a mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere radar near Aberystwyth, Wales, reveals that 74% of warm fronts were associated with multiple linear bands representing maxima of vertical wind shear, radar return signal power, or both. In contrast, 51% of cold fronts lacked any such maxima. Similarly, the warm frontal segments of occluded fronts exhibited more banding than the cold frontal segments.

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“…Such enhanced echoes and detailed information on winds have been exploited by Browning et al (1998) in the use of measurements with the MST radar and an adjacent UHF system during the passage of a vigorous cold front on 22 February 1995. The two sets of measurements, with data interpretation aided by a conceptual model, helped to identify and quantify many of the features commonly asso-NERC MST radar mesoscale studies ciated with such fronts.…”

Section: Atmospheric Stratification Tropopause and Frontsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of the NERC MST radar facility in mesoscale studies

Thomas

1999

Meteorological Applications

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The NERC radar facility located near Aberystwyth (52.4°N,4.1°W) was established for remote sensing of the structure and dynamics of the mesosphere, stratosphere and troposphere; hence the name MST radar. The facility records scatter and reflection from metre‐scale irregularities in refractive index produced by atmospheric waves and turbulence. The measurement of the three‐dimensional wind field at tropospheric and lower stratospheric heights represents the primary capability of the facility and is expected to be particularly useful in short‐range local weather forecasting operations. At the same time, the temporal and height resolution achievable lend themselves to studies of smaller‐scale, time‐varying phenomena, such as waves and turbulence. Particular attention has been paid to the characteristics and vertical propagation of mountain waves and inertia‐gravity waves, and estimates made of the vertical flux of horizontal momentum associated with such waves, known to play a significant role in the large‐scale atmospheric circulation. The turbulence associated with the dissipation of these waves, and also generated in the vicinity of jet streams, has also been examined. Quasi‐specular reflection of radar waves associated with changes in temperature gradients has helped monitor the height and sharpness of the tropopause and also the structure of frontal zones. The technical capabilities of the facility and the continuity of data provided by its all‐weather and extended operation have been shown to be well suited to both mesoscale meteorological and research applications. Copyright © 1999 Royal Meteorological Society

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Cold frontal structure derived from radar wind profilers

Cited by 16 publications

References 16 publications

A climatology of mid-tropospheric mesoscale strong wind events as observed by the MST radar, Aberystwyth

A climatology of mid-tropospheric mesoscale strong wind events as observed by the MST radar, Aberystwyth

Classifying fronts in data from a VHF wind-profiling radar

Applications of the NERC MST radar facility in mesoscale studies

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