Airflow Over a Heated Coastal Mountain

Abstract

Observations of airflow over the Santa Ana Mountains were analyzed by numerical techniques. The Boussinesq equations and their energy properties were used to define the terms computed from the observed data. The numerical results were based on a 2-km horizontal and 200-m vertical mesh. Flow over the ridge can be divided into three distinct stages. The first stage is that of the valley wind regime with ridge-top convection. The second and third stages are associated with flow across the ridge. After a short transition period, the flow streams across the ridge and oscillates in the vertical plane. This wave-like motion is apparently produced by the response to the thermal field.