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FEBRUARY 2003 SEEFELDT ET AL. 435 A High-Resolution Numerical Simulation of the Wind Flow in the Ross Island Region, Antarctica MARK W. S EEFELDT,GREGORY J. TRIPOLI, AND CHARLES R. STEARNS Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of WisconsinÐMadison, Madison, Wisconsin (Manuscript received 19 March 2001, in ®nal form 3 March 2002) ABSTRACT A detailed description of the characteristics of the three-dimensional wind ¯ow for the Ross Island region of Antarctica is presented. This region of Antarctica has complex topographic features, and the wind ¯ow is dependent on the topography and the local meteorological conditions. High-resolution nonhydrostatic numerical simulations are conducted over a high-resolution domain in the Ross Island region. Two simulations are performed corresponding to the two dominant wind ¯ow patterns in the Ross Island region. The ®rst simulation is a light wind case with a stable lower atmosphere and the second is a high wind speed event. Froude number calculations, along with a study of the equation of motion, are included for a more complete understanding of the dynamics of the wind ¯ow. The results of the simulations show a favorable correlation to past research results and observations, and provide a more complete understanding of the three-dimensional wind ¯ow in the region. In addition to a more thorough understanding of the wind ¯ow, the results indicate the usefulness and future applicability of nonhydrostatic simulations to understanding the unique meteorological conditions and features in the Antarctic. 1. Introduction are located approximately 30 km south of Ross Island. Minna Bluff, with an elevation greater than 800 m, is The wind ¯ow in the Ross Island region of Antarctica located approximately 80 km south of Ross Island. The has unique characteristics that are related to the mete- Ross Ice Shelf, a permanent ice shelf extending over orological environment and the local topography. Dur- 900 km with a slight rise in elevation, lies to the south ing light wind and stable atmospheric conditions, the of Ross Island. The Ross Sea extends to the north of wind ¯ow tends to follow the topography. In this case, Ross Island and it is typically ice free during the summer the prevailing surface wind directions are dependent on season and ice covered during the winter. The Transant- the location of the observation in relation to the topog- arctic Mountains, located west of Ross Island at a dis- raphy. During high wind speed events, the surface wind tance of approximately 80 km, quickly rise to elevations directions are consistently from the south throughout greater than 2000 m and run the entire range of the Ross the region, and they are not as dependent on the local Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea. topography. The topographic features of this region force complex The topography of the Ross Island region is char- patterns of wind ¯ow, which often vary sharply over acterized by steeply rising, complex terrain. Figure 1 is short distances. This wind ¯ow provides a signi®cant a map detailing many of the locations and topographic obstacle to human activities in the region. The locations features in the Ross Island region. At the center of the of McMurdo station (the largest of the U.S. Antarctic region is Ross Island, with two mountains, Mount Er- Program bases) and Scott Base (of the New Zealand ebus and Mount Terror, placed symmetrically on the Antarctic Program) on the southwestern edge of Ross island and extending from sea level to over 3000 m. Island expose a large number of Antarctic scientists and Ross Island is approximately 75 km west to east and support staff to these variable winds. This is particularly 35 km south to north in size. Hut Point Peninsula, with important for aircraft operations in the region (the pri- typical elevations greater than 200 m, extends approx- mary means of transportation for the scientists and sup- imately 20 km to the southwest beyond the main portion port staff) and provides a strong motivation for im- of the island. Black Island and White Island, charac- proved understanding of the wind ¯ow around Ross terized by elevations of 1000 and 750 m, respectively, Island. The history of this region is also ®lled with the stories of Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton, from the Corresponding author address: Mark Seefeldt, 2150 W. River St., Antarctic exploration age, encountering the challenges Monticello, MN 55362. of the complex wind ¯ow pattern in¯uenced by the local E-mail: [email protected] terrain. q 2003 American Meteorological Society Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/30/21 11:24 PM UTC 436 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW VOLUME 131 FIG. 1. Location map for the Ross Island region and the Ross Ice Shelf. Interest in the wind ¯ow in the Ross Island region include the development of barrier winds due to the dates back as far as some of the early explorers. A Transantarctic Mountains, a cyclone stationed over classic Antarctic meteorology study by Simpson the central part of the Ross Ice Shelf or the southern (1919) uses the meteorological observations from part of the Ross Sea, and to a lesser degree, the result Scott's and Shackleton's expeditions in the early of katabatic winds ¯owing down the Transantarctic twentieth century to formulate an understanding of Mountains during the winter months. the wind ¯ow in the region. Simpson's work includes Bromwich (1988) and O'Connor et al. (1994) go into a streamline analysis of the region during a high wind more depth on the development of barrier winds in the speed event. Schwerdtfeger (1984) uses University of region. Stable air is moved up against the high barrier Wisconsin Antarctic Automatic Weather Station of the Transantarctic Mountains. The air cannot ¯ow (UWAAWS) data and manned observations in a com- over the barrier, so it piles up against the barrier estab- parison to Simpson's work. Schwerdtfeger proposes lishing a pressure gradient with the highest pressure at that the primary processes for the consistently south- the base. Under the in¯uence of this pressure gradient erly winds in the Ross Island region are due to a few force and the Coriolis force, the winds then ¯ow along potential meteorological conditions. These conditions the barrier with a southerly direction through the Ross Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/30/21 11:24 PM UTC FEBRUARY 2003 SEEFELDT ET AL. 437 Island region. Bromwich (1988) and O'Connor et al. the stagnation zones north of Ross Island and Minna (1994) also propose the development of barrier wind Bluff, and it does a good job showing the southerly and events due to a mesocyclone or synoptic-scale cyclone southeasterly winds during a barrier wind event. How- in the region. Bromwich (1988) describes the in¯uences ever, results from the simulation are unable to address of the topography in the Ross Island region on the bar- the wind ¯ow within the Ross Island region, and cannot rier winds. Downwind wake zones are formed at the account for the smaller topographic features and the lower levels on the northern sides of Minna Bluff and vertical wind ¯ow. Ross Island. Polynyas, open areas of water indicating The motivation for the current study is to use the high wind speeds, have been observed to form on the University of Wisconsin-Nonhydrostatic Mesoscale eastern and western edges of Ross Island. Modeling System (UW-NMS) to simulate the three-di- Savage and Stearns (1985) present results from a cli- mensional wind ¯ow in the Ross Island region. The matological study in the region based on the early years UWAAWS observations for the year 1994 are scanned of the UWAAWS program. The study concludes that and conditions are found that match the results from the wind ®eld in the region shows a high degree of previous research with a low wind speed with terrain- persistence and has indications of terrain-following following characteristics pattern (22 April), and a high characteristics. wind speed with a southerly direction pattern (3 No- Sinclair (1988) conducts a more speci®c climatolog- vember). Simpli®cations are made to the UW-NMS ical study based on the area around Scott Base (eastern model to focus speci®cally on how the topography af- side of Hut Point Peninsula). Sinclair's study shows that fects the wind ¯ow for these cases. A high-resolution during inversion conditions the surface winds at Scott topography dataset is used to initialize the UW-NMS so Base usually ¯ow from the northeast. During neutral or that the impact of many of the smaller topographical unstable conditions the surface winds at Scott Base may features in the region can be successfully studied. The ¯ow from directions other than northeast. Sinclair sug- ®rst case (22 April) simulates the ambient ¯ow condi- gests that during inversion conditions the wind ¯ow will tions with a strong stable boundary layer and light resist vertical displacements and will tend to ¯ow winds. The second case (3 November) simulates high around rather than over topographic features. winds with a predominantly southerly surface ¯ow over O'Connor and Bromwich (1988) use a ¯uid dynamics the entire Ross Island region. From these two model approach to study the wind ¯ow around Ross Island, simulations, an attempt is made to gain an understanding with particular attention on the Windless Bight area. of the three-dimensional wind ¯ow in relation to the Windless Bight is an area of anomalously calm winds topography, the atmospheric stability, and the wind forc- of varying direction on the southern side of Ross Island ing mechanisms. Additional analyses are conducted cal- (Fig. 1). In the O'Connor and Bromwich study, the wind culating the Froude number and the acceleration of the ¯ow around Ross Island is modeled with a two-dimen- wind ¯ow due to the topographically induced pressure sional potential ¯ow model.