The simulation demonstrates how radiative surface cooling generates a dense air layer that accelerates downslope under gravity, showing how slope angle, cooling rate, and terrain funneling together determine katabatic wind speed.
Adjust the slope angle, surface cooling rate, and terrain funneling sliders to see how the cold air layer builds up and accelerates downhill, and observe how funneling through narrowing terrain concentrates the flow.
Sliders for slope angle, surface cooling rate, and terrain funneling
Katabatic winds at Antarctica's Adélie Coast, first documented by explorer Douglas Mawson's expedition, have been recorded sustaining speeds over 150 kilometers per hour for days at a time, making it one of the windiest places on the planet.
The simulation demonstrates how radiative surface cooling generates a dense air layer that accelerates downslope under gravity, showing how slope angle, cooling rate, and terrain funneling together determine katabatic wind speed.
The simulation demonstrates how radiative surface cooling generates a dense air layer that accelerates downslope under gravity, showing how slope angle, cooling rate, and terrain funneling together determine katabatic wind speed.
Adjust the slope angle, surface cooling rate, and terrain funneling sliders to see how the cold air layer builds up and accelerates downhill, and observe how funneling through narrowing terrain concentrates the flow.
Katabatic winds at Antarctica's Adélie Coast, first documented by explorer Douglas Mawson's expedition, have been recorded sustaining speeds over 150 kilometers per hour for days at a time, making it one of the windiest places on the planet.