• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.637-656
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• 2017

In Japan, at least 28 local winds are known by name, most of them associated with downslope windstorms and gap winds. To review these windstorms, we categorize them based largely on the atmospheric conditions and formation mechanisms, and then focus on representative examples. These representative cases include the "Yamaji­kaze", a typical downslope windstorm, the "Hirodo-­kaze", a downslope windstorm induced by a nearby typhoon (intense tropical cyclone), and the "Karak-kaze", a downslope wind with a clear diurnal variation. Other downslope winds such as the "Inami-kaze" and the gap wind "Kiyokawa­dashi" are also described. Among these winds, the "Yamaji-kaze", "Hirodo-kaze", and "Kiyokawa-dashi" are considered the three most notorious due to their destructive power. After describing and comparing these winds, we discuss remaining issues to be considered in future studies.

• Atmosphere
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.361-376
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• 2021

"Gangwon Yeongdong Wind Experiments (G-WEX) Pilot Study: Downslope windstorms in the Taebaek Mountains, South Korea" is promoted based on joint organization by Gangwon Regional Office of Meteorology and National Institute of Meteorological Research and participation by 12 institutions to understand the mechanism in development of Yeongdong wind phenomena. The special observation (G-WEX) involved total of 5 intensive observations in March 2020 and April 2020. To collect the data necessary for the research on Yeongdong wind phenomena, (1) high-resolution surface observation network was used to examine surface wind and (2) atmospheric soundings were observed by using Rawinsonde, Wind profiler, Wind Lidar, and Drone. This study covers the detailed information on the special observational experiments for downslope windstorms in the leeward of the Taebaek Mountains, named as the Yeongdong wind, including the observational strategies, experimental designs, and pilot studies during the Intensified Observing Period (IOPs). According to 2020 G-WEX observation results, downslope windstorms were observed in 2~3 km of upper atmosphere when the strong winds happened around the top of the mountain near Daegwallyeong. Also, dry adiabatic expansion related to downslope windstorms caused temperature rise and led to formation of an inversion layer in altitude below 2.5 km. Bands of strong wind were located right under the altitude where downslope windstorms are observed with temporal rise of the temperature. As these are preliminary observation results, there needs to be continuous related researches and high-resolution weather observation.

• Atmosphere
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.207-224
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• 2008

Severe downslope windstorms observed at Gangneung, Korea in the springtime during the last 30 years are studied to understand their generation mechanisms. 92 severe wind cases are selected for which the maximum instantaneous wind speeds exceed two standard deviation of total mean plus ($18.7ms^{-1}$). They are categorized into the three mechanisms (hydraulic jump, partial reflection, and critical-level reflection) proposed in previous studies based on the flow condition, which is calculated using the wind and temperature profile observed at one upstream rawinsonde station, Osan. Among the three, partial reflection is found to be the most frequent mechanism for the last 30 years (1976 - 2005). To understand the role of inversion in generating severe downslope windstorms, horizontal velocity perturbation was calculated analytically for the atmosphere with an inversion layer. It turned out that the intensity of downslope wind was increased by inversion layer of specific heights, which are well matched with the observations. For better understanding the generation mechanisms, two-dimensional numerical simulations are conducted for the 92 severe wind cases using the ARPS model. In most simulations, surface wind speed exceeds the value of the severe-wind criterion, and each simulated case can be explained by its own generation mechanism. However, in most simulations, the simulated surface wind speed is larger than the observed, due to ignoring the flow-splitting effect in the two-dimensional framework.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.1245-1254
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• 2003

A numerical simulation for 11 February 1996 has been done to grasp main mechanisms of the occurrence of strong downslope winds near Gangnung area. The simulation performed by using ARPS (Advanced Regional Prediction System) showed that enhanced surface winds were not related with a reflection of vertically propagating gravity waves. Froude numbers were about 1.0, 0.4 and 0.6 for the atmosphere above Daekwanryoung and above a place located 220km upstream, and above another place located 230km downstream from the Taebak mountains, respectively. This suggested that as a subcritical flow ascended the upslope side of the Taebak mountains, Froude numbers would tend to increase according to the increase in wind speed, and near the crest the flow would become supercritical and continue to accelerate as it went down the downslope side until it was adapted back to the ambient subcritical conditions in a turbulent hydraulic jump. Simulated Froude numbers corroborated the hydraulic jump nature of the strong downslope wind. In addition, the inversion was found near the mountain top height upstream of the mountains, and it was favorable for the occurrence of strong downslope winds.

• Atmosphere
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.395-404
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• 2021

In order to investigate downslope windstorm by using more detailed observation, we observed 6 cases at 3 sites - Inje, Yongpyeong, and Bukgangneung - during "3-D Meteorological Observation Project in Yeongdong region of Gangwon province, South Korea in 2020." The results from analysis of the project data were as follows. First, AWS data showed that a subsidence inversion layer appeared in 800~700 hPa on the windward side and 900~850 hPa on the leeward side. Second, before strong wind occurred, the inversion layer had descended to about 880~800 hPa. Third, with mountain wave breaking, downslope wind was intensified at the height of 2~3 km above sea level. After the downslope wind began to descend, the subsidence inversion layer developed. When the subsidence inversion layer got close to the ground, wind peak occurred. In general, UM (Unified Model) GDAPS (Global Data Assimilation Prediction System) have had negative bias in wind speed around peak area of Taebaek mountain range, and positive bias in that of East Sea coast area. The stronger wind blew, the larger the gap between observed and predicted wind speed by GDAPS became. GDAPS predicted strong p-velocity at 0600 LST 25 Apr 2020 (4^th case) and weak p-velocity at 2100 LST 01 Jun 2020 (6^th case) on the lee-side of Taebaek mountain range near Yangyang. As hydraulic jump theory was proved, which is known as a mechanism of downslope windstorm in Yeongdong region, it was confirmed that there is a relationship between p-velocity of lee-side and wind speed of eastern slope of Taebaek mountain range.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.613-635
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• 2017

Strong downslope windstorms often occur in the Liguria Region. This part of North-Western Italy is characterised by an almost continuous mountain range along its West-East axis consisting of Maritime Alps and Apennines, which separate the Padan Plain to the North from the Mediterranean Sea to the South. Along this mountain range many valleys occur, frequently perpendicular to the mountain range axis, where strong gap flows sometimes develop from the top of the mountains ridge to the sea. In the framework of the European projects "Wind and Ports" and "Wind, Ports, and Sea", an anemometric monitoring network made up of 15 (ultra)sonic anemometric stations and 2 LiDARs has been realised in the three main commercial ports of Liguria. Thanks to this network two investigations are herein carried out. First, the wind climatology and the main statistical parameters of one Liguria valley have been studied through the analysis of the measurements taken along a period of 4 years by the anemometer placed at its southern exit. Then, the main characteristics of two strong gap flows that occurred in two distinct valley of Liguria are examined. Both these studies focus, on the one hand, on the climatological and meteorological characterisation of the downslope wind events and, on the other hand, on their most relevant quantities that can affect wind engineering problems.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.865-880
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• 2002

As prevailing synoptic scale westerly wind blowing over high steep Mt. Taegulyang in the west of Kangnung coastal city toward the Sea of Japan became downslope wind and easterly upslope wind combined with both valley wind and sea breeze(valley-sea breeze) also blew from the sea toward the top of the mountain, two different kinds of wind regimes confronted each other in the mid of eastern slope of the mountain and further downward motion of downlsope wind along the eastern slope of the mountain should be prohibited by the upslope wind. Then, the upslope wind away from the eastern slope of the mountain went up to 1700m height over the ground, becoming an easterly return flow in the upper level of the sea. Two kinds of circulations were detected with a small one in the coastal sea and a large one from the coast toward the open sea. Convective boundary layer was developed with a thickness of about 1km over the ground in the upwind side of the mountain in the west, while a thickness of thermal internal boundary layer(TIBL) form the coast along the eastern slope of the mountain was only confined to less than 200m. After sunset, under no prohibition of upslope wind, westerly downslope wind blew from the top of the mountain toward the coastal basin and the downslope wind should be intensified by both mountain wind and land breeze(mountain-land breeze) induced by nighttime radiative cooling of the ground surfaces, resulting in the formation of downslope wind storm. The wind storm caused the development of internal gravity waves with hydraulic jump motion bounding up toward the upper level of the sea in the coastal plain and relatively moderate wind on the sea.

• Atmosphere
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.349-364
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• 2007

The main purpose of this study is to examine the sensitivity of the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) in the wind field to the steepness of mountains in the case with a strong downslope wind occurred in the Yeongdong province. We conducted WRF simulations for February 13 2006. The initial and boundary data are from the NCEP/NCAR $1^{\circ}{\times}1^{\circ}$ GDAS. Arbitrary terrains of the mountains with a symmetric orography and an asymmetric one with steeper leeward slope, were introduced to examine the sensitivity of the shape of the mountains. The simulation with an asymmetric terrain results in stronger maximum surface wind by about $10ms^{-1}$ than with a symmetric terrain, especially in the narrow region from the peak to ~ 4 km away in the downstream. However, the maximum surface wind speed is weaker by $20ms^{-1}$ than with a symmetric terrain away from the narrow peak region. This indicates that the steeper slope leads to the intensification of downslope wind in the narrower region leeward. In addition, for the simulation with an asymmetric terrain, the strength of wave breaking is greater and the Lee wave is more dominant than for that with a symmetric terrain.

• Atmosphere
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.331-344
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• 2009

A sensitivity study has been performed using ARPS (Advanced Regional Prediction System) version 5.2.10 in a downslope windstorm case of 12-13 February 2006. The purpose of this study was to find out the role of the inversion layer of temperature mainly in relation to the strength of the downslope winds over the Yeongdong region located downstream of the Taebaek mountains. Under the conditions of N (Brunt-$V{\ddot{a}}is{\ddot{a}}la$ frequency)=0.008 and N=0.016, the effects of the presence of the inversion layer, its variation of height of the layer, and the depth of the layer were identified. The sensitivity experiments suggested that the inversion layer effected the downstream wind speed of the mountains under both conditions of N=0.008 and N=0.016, and notably when the inversion layer was located near the mountain crest the downstream wind speed of the mountains was strong (~ $27ms^{-1}$) only under the condition of N=0.016. In addition, when the atmosphere was rather stable (N=0.016) and the depth of the layer was relatively thin (765 m) the downstream wind speed of the mountains was the strongest (~ $30ms^{-1}$) among the sensitivity experiments.

• Atmosphere
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.21-32
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• 2023

Characteristics of downslope windstorm (DW) has been examined mainly based on 1-min average wind and the other meteorological conditions in the Yeongdong region for 2000~2020. First, a classification procedure for the downslope windstorm is proposed using surface wind speed (greater than 99 percentile), 1-hour longevity of strong wind (SW), westerly wind direction, low humidity (less than 20 percentile), and leeside warming. The number of DW days satisfying the proposed criteria is 221 (2.9% of total days and 47.5% of SW days) while the number of SW days is 465 (6.1% of total days) for 2000~2020. The occurrences of both SW and DW shows distinctive annual variation with its peak in April. In addition, mean wind speed of DW days is 8.2 m s^-1 with its duration of 2 hr 30 min and relative humidity of 28% at Gangneung. An episode (7 May 2021) was selected by applying the proposed criteria to SW days of 2021. The sounding shows that the layer of wind speed greater than 25 m s^-1 was lowered down to 925 hPa at Gangneung (leeside) relative to 850 hPa at Hoengseong (Wonju), in the afternoon along with significant warming and drying. Froude numbers of Wonju and Gangneung for the DW events were increased 4 and 5 times greater than those of normal days, respectively. This kind of DW long-term statistics in the leeside of the mountains is thought to build a foundation of further understanding DW mechanism.