Diurnal winds in the Himalayan Kali Gandaki valley. Part II: modelling

Zängl, G., J. Egger, and V. Wirth

Mon. Wea. Rev., (2001), 129, 1062--1080.

Both a simple model and a complex mesoscale simulation model are used to simulate and better understand the wind observations in the Kali Gandaki valley reported in the first part of this paper. The Kali Gandaki river originates in Nepal near Tibet, flows southward through the Mustang basin, crosses the Himalayas in a gorge to descend to the lowlands of Nepal. Extremely strong diurnal upvalley flow in the gorge and the basin alternates with rather weak drainage flow in the night. Accorgin to the simple model the Mustang basin acts as an elevated heat source during the day, where the inflow from the south is hampered by the Himalayan barrier. This leads to the formation of a jet at the northern end of the gorge which protrudes into the basin. The simple model fails to fully explain both the observed strength of the inflow and the weakness of the nocturnal drainage flow.
The mesoscale model is successful in simulating almost all aspects of the observations. The simulations strongly suggest that the observed acceleration of the upvalley winds near the entrance to the Mustang basin is linked to supercritical flow. Moreover, gravity waves induced by the ridges protruding into the valley appear to contribute to the acceleration. Humidity is found to be essential for simulating the observed day-night asymmetry because of its impact on the boundary layer structure above the Himalayan foothills and on the nocturnal cooling rates. In addition, advection of relatively stable air from the foreland into the basin is important for the formation of the jet and explains also part of the asymmetry. The Plateau of Tibet appears to have a small but positive impact on the flow speeds in the valley.

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