12th Conference on Mesoscale Processes

P2.2

Cross-mountain airflow as observed from flight data recorder (FDR) data of transport category commercial aircraft

P. W. Chan, Hong Kong Observatory, Hong Kong, China

The FDR data of arriving aircraft are analyzed to estimate the atmospheric quantities, including the three components of the wind and turbulent kinetic energy along the flight path. Two typical cases of terrain-disrupted airlfow at the Hong Kong International Airport area considered, namely, east to southeasterly wind case in spring-time and gale-force southeasterly wind associated with a typhoon. The FDR data are shown to reveal many mesoscale to microscale features of terrain-disturbed airflow, such as the turbulent wake behind the mountains and wave motion in the form of “roller-coaster” of vertical velocity. To study the features in detail, mesoscale numerical simulation would also be performed and compared with aircraft observations.

extended abstract  Extended Abstract (1.6M)

Poster Session 2, Poster Viewing/reception
Wednesday, 8 August 2007, 4:30 PM-6:00 PM, White Mountain Room

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