Current Challenges in Understanding and Predicting Transport and Exchange in the Atmosphere over Mountainous Terrain
by
Manuela Lehner *
and Mathias W. Rotach
Manuela Lehner * and Mathias W. Rotach
Department of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences, University of Innsbruck; 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Atmosphere 2018, 9(7), 276; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9070276
Received: 8 June 2018 / Revised: 9 July 2018 / Accepted: 14 July 2018 / Published: 18 July 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Processes over Complex Terrain)
Coupling of the earth’s surface with the atmosphere is achieved through an exchange of momentum, energy, and mass in the atmospheric boundary layer. In mountainous terrain, this exchange results from a combination of multiple transport processes, which act and interact on different spatial and temporal scales, including, for example, orographic gravity waves, thermally driven circulations, moist convection, and turbulent motions. Incorporating these exchange processes and previous studies, a new definition of the atmospheric boundary layer in mountainous terrain, a mountain boundary layer (MBL), is defined. This paper summarizes some of the major current challenges in measuring, understanding, and eventually parameterizing the relevant transport processes and the overall exchange between the MBL and the free atmosphere. Further details on many aspects of the exchange in the MBL are discussed in several other papers in this issue.
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Keywords:
atmospheric transport; boundary layer; complex terrain; energy exchange; mass exchange; momentum exchange; mountain atmosphere
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MDPI and ACS Style
Lehner, M.; Rotach, M.W. Current Challenges in Understanding and Predicting Transport and Exchange in the Atmosphere over Mountainous Terrain. Atmosphere 2018, 9, 276.
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