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Fronts in the vicinity of the tropopause

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Summary

From a study of five cases of pronounced fronts in the upper troposphere, it is concluded that the “waterspout” model offers the most satisfactory solution to the problem of connecting frontal boundaries and tropopauses. Composite cross sections of temperature, potential temperature, normal wind component and potential vorticity are presented for the five cases. On the basis of the potential vorticity measurements it is suggested that the most likely explanation for the formation of the high-level front is a folding of the tropopause.

Zusammenfassung

Auf Grund einer Untersuchung von fünf Fällen ausgesprochener Fronten in der höheren Troposphäre wird der Schluß gezogen, daß die „Wasserhosen”-Vorstellung am besten den Zusammenhang zwischen Fronten und Tropopausen darstellt. Kombinierte Querschnitte von Temperatur, potentieller Temperatur, normaler Windkomponente und potentieller Vorticity werden für die fünf Fälle vorgelegt. Auf Grund der Bestimmungen der potentiellen Vorticity wird dargelegt, daß die wahrscheinlichste Erklärung für die Entstehung einer Front in der Höhe in der Annahme einer Faltung der Tropopause besteht.

Résumé

En se fondant sur cinq cas de fronts très nets de la haute troposphère, les auteurs concluent que le schéma de trombe constitue la meilleure solution pour représenter la liaison entre zones frontales et tropopause. Ils donnent des profils combinés de température, de température potentielle, de composantes normales du vent et de vorticity potentielle pour les cinq cas. Ils montrent à l'aide de mesures de la vorticity potentielle que l'explication la plus probable de la formation d'un front en altitude consiste à admettre un plissement de la tropopause.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Meteorology and Climatology, University of Washington, Seattle

    Richard J. Reed & Edwin F. Danielsen

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  1. Richard J. Reed
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  2. Edwin F. Danielsen
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With 11 Figures

Contribution No. 37, Department of Meteorology and Climatology. —The research reported in this article has been supported by the Geophysical Research Directorate, Air Force Cambridge Research Center, under Contract No. AF 19 (604)-1811.

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Reed, R.J., Danielsen, E.F. Fronts in the vicinity of the tropopause. Arch. Met. Geoph. Biokl. A. 11, 1–17 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02247637

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