Original scientific paper
A NUMERICAL CASE STUDY OF AN OROGRAPHICALLY ENHANCED FRONTAL SYSTEM IN CENTRAL CHILE
Mark Falvey
; Universidad de Chile, Blanco Encalada 2002, Santiago, Chile
René Garreaud
; Universidad de Chile, Blanco Encalada 2002, Santiago, Chile
Abstract
The interaction of a frontal system with the extreme orography of the Andes mountain range is examined for a case of intense precipitation in central Chile during June 2002. The heavy rainfall was associated with a synoptic scale rainband that moved slowly over central Chile during a 48 hour period. Numerical simulations with the WRF mesoscale model show that both the intensification of precipitation within the rainband, and its semi-stationary character, were fundamentally determined by interaction with the topography. It is suggested that the intensification of otherwise weak frontal zones by orographic flow deformation may be an important precipitation mechanism in central Chile.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
64676
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2005.
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