Flow over Heated Terrain. Part I: Linear Theory and Idealized Numerical Simulations

Abstract

The flow past heated topography is examined with both linear and nonlinear models. It is first shown that the forcing of an obstacle with horizontally homogenous surface heating can be approximated by the forcing of an obstacle with surface heating isolated over the obstacle. The small-amplitude flow past an obstacle with isolated heating is then examined with a linear model. Under the linear approximation, the flow response to heated topography is simply the addition of the separate responses to thermal and orographic forcing. These separate responses are first considered individually and then the combined response is examined. Nondimensional parameters are developed that measure the relative importance of thermal and orographic forcing. Nonaxisymmetric forcing is then considered by examining the flow along and across a heated elliptically shaped obstacle. It is shown that the low-level lifting is maximized when the flow is along the major axis of the obstacle.

The linear solutions are then tested in a nonlinear anelastic model. The response to a heat source and orography are first examined separately. Good agreement is found between nonlinear and linear models for the individual responses to thermal and orographic forcing. The case of uniformly heated flow past an obstacle is then examined. In these simulations, the thermal response is isolated by subtracting the orographic-only response from the full thermal–orographic response. The numerical simulations are able to capture the main features of the thermal response. Finally, numerical simulations of the flow along and across an elliptically shaped heated obstacle are examined, where it is verified that the lifting is maximized when the flow is along the major axis of the obstacle.

These results are extended in Part II of this study to examine the moist convective response to flow over both idealized terrain and the complex terrain of the Rocky Mountains of the United States.