Island-Scale Circulations over the Island of Hawaii

大气流动与山脉的相互作用是大气科学中的一个重要问题。地形学不仅对局部天气有影响，而且对大尺度气流也有影响。多山的夏威夷岛的孤立为研究地形学的影响提供了一个天然的实验室。1990年，几位研究人员执行了一个合作项目，即夏威夷雨带项目，以研究该岛对当地天气和基本山地/大气流动相互作用的影响。迄今为止，大多数的HaRP分析都集中在希洛近海的气流、热力学场和雷达回波以及清晨雨带的演变上。在这个项目中，首席研究员（PI）将把分析扩展到迎风海岸和近海的气流以及背风侧的环流。此外，PI将使用先进的中尺度数值模式模拟不同信风条件（例如强信风与弱信风、低信风逆温高度与高信风逆温高度）下岛内气流和天气的完整日循环。对观测结果的分析将用于验证模型结果。模拟研究的结果将提高对夏季信风天气下夏威夷岛日和局部影响的基本认识。这些结果可能有助于解释其他复杂地形情况下的气流。

The interactions of atmospheric flows with mountains are an important issue in atmospheric sciences. Orography plays a role in both local weather as well as influencing the larger scale flow. The isolation of the mountainous Island of Hawaii provides a natural laboratory for studies of the impacts of orography. In 1990 a cooperative project among several researchers, the Hawaiian Rainband Project (HaRP), was executed to study the influence of the island on local weather and fundamental mountain/atmospheric flow interactions. To date, most HaRP analyses have focused on the airflow, thermodynamic fields and radar echoes on the windward side and the evolution of early morning rain bands offshore of Hilo. In this project the Principal Investigator (PI) will extend analysis to the airflow along the windward coast and offshore as well as circulations on the lee side. Furthermore, the PI will simulate the complete diurnal cycle of the island-scale airflow and weather under different trade-wind conditions (e.g. strong trades vs. weak trades; low trade-wind inversion height vs. high trade-wind inversion height) using an advanced mesoscale numerical model. Analysis of observations will be used to validate model results. Results from modeling studies will improve basic understanding of the diurnal and local effects for the island of Hawaii under the summer trade-wind weather. These results potentially can have benefits in helping to interpret airflow in other complex terrain situations.