Dynamic Characteristics of Regional Flows around the Pyrénées in View of the PYREX Experiment. Part I: Analysis of the Pressure and Wind Fields and Experimental Assessment of the Applicability of the Linear Theory

Abstract
The Pyrénées experiment (PYREX), launched by the French and Spanish meteorological services, had provided an extensive database that was used in the present work to describe the airflow around the Pyrénées and to evaluate the applicability of the linear theory to stable flows that are blocked by a relatively large mountain range. The direction of incidence of the incoming synoptic wind was used to classify the flow in northerly and southerly categories. In both categories, the directions of incidence bear westward from normal incidence to the main axis of the mountain range. Froude (Fr) and Rossby (Ro) numbers were used to represent the thermodynamic characteristics of the incoming air masses and the scale of interaction in terms of the mountain shape. Here, Fr and Ro were found linearly correlated, and their combination corresponding to blocked flow in all the cases. Average cross correlations between the pressure drag across the mountain and the vertical profiles of the wind components at selec... Abstract The Pyrénées experiment (PYREX), launched by the French and Spanish meteorological services, had provided an extensive database that was used in the present work to describe the airflow around the Pyrénées and to evaluate the applicability of the linear theory to stable flows that are blocked by a relatively large mountain range. The direction of incidence of the incoming synoptic wind was used to classify the flow in northerly and southerly categories. In both categories, the directions of incidence bear westward from normal incidence to the main axis of the mountain range. Froude (Fr) and Rossby (Ro) numbers were used to represent the thermodynamic characteristics of the incoming air masses and the scale of interaction in terms of the mountain shape. Here, Fr and Ro were found linearly correlated, and their combination corresponding to blocked flow in all the cases. Average cross correlations between the pressure drag across the mountain and the vertical profiles of the wind components at selec...

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