Lidar observations of low-level wind reversals over the Gulf of Lion and characterization of their impact on the water vapour variability

Paolo Di Girolamo; Cyrille Flamant; Marco Cacciani; Donato Summa; Dario Stelitano; Ignazio Mancini; Evelyne Richard; Véronique Ducrocq; Mathieu Nuret; Frédérique Said

Lidar observations of low-level wind reversals over the Gulf of Lion and characterization of their impact on the water vapour variability

Paolo Di Girolamo ¹ Cyrille Flamant ² Marco Cacciani ³ Donato Summa ¹ Dario Stelitano ⁴ Ignazio Mancini ¹ Evelyne Richard ⁵ Véronique Ducrocq ⁶ Mathieu Nuret ⁶ Frédérique Said ⁵

1 Difa - Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Fisica dell'Ambiente [Potenza]

2 TROPO - LATMOS

LATMOS - Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales

3 Dipartimento di Fisica [Roma La Sapienza]

4 University of Basilicata

5 LA - Laboratoire d'aérologie - LA

6 CNRM-GAME - Groupe d'étude de l'atmosphère météorologique

Abstract : Water vapour measurements from a ground-based Raman lidar and an airborne differential absorption lidar, complemented by high resolution numerical simulations from two mesoscale models (Arome-WMED and MESO-NH), are considered to investigate transition events from Mistral/Tramontane to southerly marine flow taking place over the Gulf of Lion in Southern France in the time frame September-October 2012, during the Hydrological Cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX) Special Observation Period 1 (SOP1). Low-level wind reversals associated with these transitions are found to have a strong impact on water vapour transport, leading to a large variability of the water vapour vertical and horizontal distribution. The high spatial and temporal resolution of the lidar data allow to monitor the time evolution of the three-dimensional water vapour field during these transitions from predominantly northerly Mistral/Tramontane flow to a predominantly southerly flow, allowing to identify the quite sharp separation between these flows, which is also quite well captured by the mesoscale models.

Document type :

Journal articles

Domain :

Physics [physics] / Physics [physics] / Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]

Sciences of the Universe [physics] / Ocean, Atmosphere

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Lidar observations of low-level wind reversals over the Gulf of Lion and characterization of their impact on the water vapour variability

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Lidar observations of low-level wind reversals over the Gulf of Lion and characterization of their impact on the water vapour variability

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