Understanding and Forecasting Alpine Foehn

Richner, Hans; Hächler, Patrick

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4098-3_4

Cited by 75 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In Argentina there are no maps showing zonda regions in contrast to what is shown by Richner & Hechler [14] (in that paper, see Zonda is more frequent between May and November and there is a maximum of occurrence in spring (October for Mendoza Aero and September for San Juan Aero) (Figure 27 and Figure 31, respectively). The onset of zonda events is shown in Figure 28 and Figure 32 for these cities.…”

Section: Zonda Climatologycontrasting

confidence: 44%

“…Like in the Alps, the conceptual model of zonda wind in the South American Andes is quite similar to the "textbook theory" mentioned in [14]. In Figure 4 the diagram shows a typical scheme where the cold and humid air from the Pacific Ocean is forced towards a mountain range (the Andes in this case, Chile area).…”

Section: Conceptual Modelmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…The methodology applied to achieve the goal of this paper was to follow a rather similar scheme to that developed by Richner & Hechler [14], trying to find differences and similarities in zonda wind research conducted in western areas of Argentina close to the Andes with respect to the foehn in Europe.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As in the European Alps, "the skills of experienced forecasters who are familiar with the local and regional situations are still an important pre-requisite for a successful forecast" [14]. The synoptic tools for predicting the onset of the zonda wind have been summarized in 7.1 and 7.2.…”

Section: Open Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding and Forecasting Zonda Wind (Andean Foehn) in Argentina: A Review

Norte¹

2015

ACS

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This paper focuses on the "state of the art" research of the Argentinian zonda wind at the beginning of 2015. Zonda (similar to foehn) is a strong, warm, very dry wind associated with adiabatic compression upon descending the eastern slopes of the Andes Cordillera in western central Argentina. Particularly, hourly surface meteorological information obtained from the Argentine National Weather Service (Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, SMN) from Mendoza Aero (32˚50'S, 68˚47'W, 704 m ASL) and San Juan Aero (31˚34'S, 68˚25'W, 598 m ASL) airport meteorological stations was used. The paper contains a history of zonda research mentioning the principal papers since the 1950s, the characteristics of zonda wind (conceptual model, a classic event, intensities categories) and examples of non-classical episodes. Also zonda dynamics, zonda climatology and forecasting problems are considered. A probabilistic method and the model forecast that are running in operative way are commented. Also the climate impact, air quality and damages caused are mentioned. There has been substantial progress in the understanding of this kind of complex wind during the last years, especially since the last decade, accelerated using different models. This paper has highlighted some of these advances by synthesizing some of the major findings. The probabilistic prediction method developed in the 1980s is still very useful to predict zonda in the cities of San Juan and Mendoza. This as well as the new available tools, such as the eta/PRM and GEM models running operatively (continuously) at PRM (Mendoza Regional Meteorology Program), offered the community the possibility to generate an Early Warning System to warn the population particularly in its severe manifestations. The answer to questions regarding time of onset of the event, place where it will occur first, duration, intensity and offset still poses a great challenge for researchers and forecasters in the region.

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Section: Zonda Climatologycontrasting

confidence: 44%

Section: Conceptual Modelmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Open Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding and Forecasting Zonda Wind (Andean Foehn) in Argentina: A Review

Norte¹

2015

ACS

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“…The probability that the predicted source region corresponds with the actual source region is high, but seems to decrease from the NE and NW to the S. The forecast achieves a high predictability in high pressure weather systems with NE transport direction. Predictability may be lower in low pressure situations, with prefrontal southwesterly winds and foehn events (Kaiser, 2009;Richner and Hächler, 2013). Low pressure systems are frequently characterized by fast-changing weather conditions (changing wind direction and precipitation).…”

Section: Air Flow Regime Frequencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ambient Air Levels of Organochlorine Pesticides at Three High Alpine Monitoring Stations: Trends and Dependencies on Geographical Origin

Kirchner

Jakobi

Körner

et al. 2016

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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Many persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), which are emitted into air, occur ubiquitously in different environmental compartments worldwide. OCPs are measurable in conspicuous concentrations in the air not only near emission regions but also in background areas, as in the Alps. In the present study, we analyzed OCPs in air samples between 2005 and 2013 at three high Alpine stations (Weißfluhjoch, Switzerland: 2663 m a.s.l.; Sonnblick, Austria: 3106 m a.s.l.; and Schneefernerhaus, Germany: 2650 m a.s.l.). The air concentrations of OCPs at these stations were lower than those in source regions but higher than those in the Arctic region. Concentration differences between sites were found to be relatively small. To distinguish the influences from different European source regions, four filters of lowvolume active air samplers were operated alternately according to a trajectory prediction method. Air masses from the northeast (i.e., Bavaria and Eastern Central Europe) and the south (i.e., Mediterranean countries) were characterized by higher concentrations of OCPs (e.g., pentachlorobenzene and hexachlorobenzene) compared with those arriving from the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, we evaluated the temporal trend of the single compounds; only a few compounds such as endosulfan exhibited a clear decreasing trend.

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The role of foehn in the formation of heavy air pollution events in Urumqi, China

Xia

Wang

et al. 2015

JGR Atmospheres

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The impact of sandwich foehn on air pollution in Urumqi, a gap town located on the northern lee side of the Tianshan Mountains of China, is analyzed. The results show that during days with high pollution, the boundary layer over the city and the down-valley area can be divided into a three-layer structure, with the southeasterly foehn sandwiched between the northwesterly winds on top and the cold air surface pool beneath. The southeasterly foehn at heights between 480 and 2100 m results in a very stable boundary layer structure. In combination with the decoupling between the foehn flow and cold air pool, such boundary layer structure prevents vertical mixing of atmospheric pollutants. In the up-valley area from the northern lee side flank to the southern urban area, the ground-based foehn confronts the thermally driven valley breeze and forms a "minifront," which moves northward in the morning and retreats southward in the afternoon. Although the minifront disappears in the early evening, the wind shear of the mountain breeze between the southern suburb and downtown areas is still remarkable, which is favorable for a convergence line to persist around the city all day long. In this case, air pollutants emitted from the up-valley and down-valley areas are transported toward the urban area. Therefore, the air pollutants accumulate daily, leading to the frequent occurrence of heavy pollution events in Urumqi. This indicates that the sandwich foehn plays a critical role in the formation of heavy air pollution events in Urumqi.

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Understanding and Forecasting Alpine Foehn

Cited by 75 publications

References 28 publications

Understanding and Forecasting Zonda Wind (Andean Foehn) in Argentina: A Review

Understanding and Forecasting Zonda Wind (Andean Foehn) in Argentina: A Review

Ambient Air Levels of Organochlorine Pesticides at Three High Alpine Monitoring Stations: Trends and Dependencies on Geographical Origin

The role of foehn in the formation of heavy air pollution events in Urumqi, China

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