Por favor, use este identificador para citar o enlazar este ítem: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11765/16567
Effect of complex orography on numerical simulations of a downburst event in Spain
Título : Effect of complex orography on numerical simulations of a downburst event in Spain
Autor : Díaz Fernández, JavierCalvo Sancho, CarlosBolgiani, PedroSastre, MarianoLópez Reyes, M.Fernández-González, Sergio ORCID RESEARCHERID SCOPUSID Autor AEMETMartín, María Luisa
Palabras clave : Downburst; WRF-ARW; Supercell; Orography
Fecha de publicación : 2025
Editor: Elsevier
Citación : Atmospheric Research. 2025, 314, 107821
Versión del editor: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2024.107821
Resumen : A downburst is a localized and intense downdraft of air that descends quickly from the middle troposphere and reaches the Earth’s surface. It is frequently originated by a thunderstorm or a supercell. Downburst winds can cause significant damage to buildings, infrastructure, and pose a great threat to aviation traffic. On July 1, 2018, many supercells were spotted near the Zaragoza Airport (Spain), and at least one of them generated a downburst that affected the airport, causing significant damage in the surrounding area. This event is here simulated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-ARW) numerical weather prediction model. Three different WRFARW orography experiments are carried out to investigate if the region’s complex orography has an important role in supercell and downburst development over the research area. One of the three experiments uses the default orography as control; another one uses a 90 % smoothed orography, and the third experiment is configured with a high-resolution dataset. Several atmospheric and convective variables are compared for each orography experiment. Results show that MUCAPE is clearly higher when the orography complexity is reduced. The smoothing process leads to a more uniform wind flow, contributing to the formation of numerous supercells. However, supercells channel through valleys and mountains in the control and high-resolution orography ex periments, where the surface wind divergences are uniquely reproduced, and the highest reflectivity values are observed. Moisture advection from the Mediterranean Sea is essential in the process, reaching more deeply into the study region in the smoothed orography experiment due to the lack of orographic barriers. Orography affects dynamic and thermodynamic features, which have considerable effects on the formation and development of downbursts.
Patrocinador: Carlos Calvo-Sancho acknowledges the grant support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación, y Universidades (FPI programmes PRE2020-092343). Moreover, this research has been supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación project PID2023-146344OB-I00 (CONSCIENCE) and the ECMWF Special Projects (SPESMART and SPESVALE).
URI : http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11765/16567
ISSN : 0169-8095
Colecciones: Artículos científicos 2023-2026


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