Sodar observations of chinooks and arctic front passages across the Eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies

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Abstract
Doppler and monostatic sodars at three sites in and near Calgary separated by 25 km along an east‐west transect were used to gather wind and turbulence profile information during several Arctic front passages in November and December of 1982. Four cases were studied in detail; these showed wide variations in the development of winter chinooks in southern Alberta. It was difficult to predict the arrival of warm air at ground level from simple extrapolation of the height‐time variation of elevated echo‐layers associated with chinooks. Many small‐scale features were found in a detail not previously observed. Synoptic‐scale systems, such as upper‐air disturbances and surface cyclones also affect the frontal zone. Radiation effects may be important in the time variations of the echo‐layer. The quasi‐periodic fluctuations in winds above 75 m AGL also affect the frontal zone.

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