Mountain wave episodes using the high-resolution HARMONIE-AROME model in
Spain.
Abstract
Turbulence and icing represent a danger for the aircrafts. In fact,
turbulence is the leading cause of aircraft accidents related to
meteorology. Both turbulence and icing weather hazards can occur in
mountain waves simultaneously. For this reason, it is important to study
these weather phenomena. Here, the HARMONIE-AROME model is used in order
to analyze mountain wave events in the Guadarrama and the Cantabrian
Mountain Ranges (Spain). This short-range mesoscale numerical weather
prediction model is used for operational weather forecasts in many
European meteorological organizations with a horizontal resolution of
2.5 km. In this study, a spatial resolution of 1 x 1 km is selected. In
the analyzed areas, mountain waves are formed on the leeward side when
strong winds, perpendicular to the mountains (usually north or northwest
winds), are forced to ascend. Simulated total cloud cover and z-wind
component have been analyzed and compared with satellite images. The
validation of these mountain wave episodes between the HARMONIE-AROME
simulations and satellite observations were satisfactory. The most
notable differences were observed in the hours of the mountain wave
formation/dissipation.