Island-Scale Circulations over the Island of Hawaii

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

The interactions of atmospheric flows with mountains are an important issue in atmospheric sciences. Orography plays a role in both local weather as well as influencing the larger scale flow. The isolation of the mountainous Island of Hawaii provides a natural laboratory for studies of the impacts of orography. In 1990 a cooperative project among several researchers, the Hawaiian Rainband Project (HaRP), was executed to study the influence of the island on local weather and fundamental mountain/atmospheric flow interactions. To date, most HaRP analyses have focused on the airflow, thermodynamic fields and radar echoes on the windward side and the evolution of early morning rain bands offshore of Hilo. In this project the Principal Investigator (PI) will extend analysis to the airflow along the windward coast and offshore as well as circulations on the lee side. Furthermore, the PI will simulate the complete diurnal cycle of the island-scale airflow and weather under different trade-wind conditions (e.g. strong trades vs. weak trades; low trade-wind inversion height vs. high trade-wind inversion height) using an advanced mesoscale numerical model. Analysis of observations will be used to validate model results. Results from modeling studies will improve basic understanding of the diurnal and local effects for the island of Hawaii under the summer trade-wind weather. These results potentially can have benefits in helping to interpret airflow in other complex terrain situations.