• Atmosphere
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.67-83
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• 2006

The statistical analysis for the springtime windstorm in Korea shows that Yeongdong region has the highest occurrence frequency during recent 10 years. The objective of this study is to find possible mechanisms for the downslope windstorm formation in the Yeongdong region by using a mesoscale numerical model, WRF. Dynamical process, wave breaking (hereafter WB), is qualitatively investigated as the candidate mechanism for a windstorm event occurred in 5 April, 2005. WB is developed in upper troposphere downstream, since stable air is lifted by the Taebaek mountain. This process can cause and maintain the severe downslope windstorm by drawing the upper flow down to the surface. And the intensified downslope wind leads the hydraulic jump (hereafter HJ) in downstream region. Froude numbers at Chuncheon (upslope side), Seorak Mountain (crest), Yangyang (lee side), and the East Sea (distant downstream position) are estimated by about 0.4, 1.0, 1.6, and 0.6, respectively. This result implies that the accelerated and supercritical (Fr>1) flow adjusts to the ambient subcritical (Fr<1) conditions in the turbulent HJ. In addition, we find the formation of upstream inversion near top level of the mountain cause the intensification of HJ. Experiments to examine the orographic effect on the mechanisms suggest that the magnitudes of WB and HJ are larger in the experiment of higher topography, but there is no significant difference of windstorm magnitude among the experiments. Another important result from these sensitivity experiments is that the intensity of downslope windstorm strongly depends on the magnitude of upper (2~4 km) wind in upstream side.

• 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.