On the two-dimensional, hydrostatic flow of a stream of moist air over a mountain ridge

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Abstract
The small perturbation of a steady, two-dimensional horizontal stream of a moist inviscid, Boussinesq fluid is treated analytically by use of an asymptotic method when a certain parameter ∊ is small and numerically by use of an iterative method for general values of ∊. This parameter is a measure of the difference between dry and wet adiabats in the model atmosphere, which is absolutely stable and which contains a moist layer near the ground. Vapour condenses (evaporates) where the vertical displacement of a fluid particle exceeds the ascent condensation level and the vertical motion is upward (downward). The condensation of vapour and release of latent heat are nonlinear phenomena which are treated, but otherwise the equations of motion and boundary conditions are linearized. We limit our attention to an airflow of uniform properties over a mountain ridge. The hydrostatic approximation is made. As a result, the horizontal wavelengths must be long compared to the vertical ones and lee waves are absent. Moisture is found to reduce the drag on the mountain substantially.

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