Minimum temperatures, diurnal temperature ranges, and temperature inversions in limestone sinkholes of different sizes and shapes
- Author(s)
- Charles David Whiteman, Thomas Haiden, B Pospichal, Stefan Eisenbach, Reinhold Steinacker
- Abstract
Air temperature data from five enclosed limestone sinkholes of various sizes and shapes on the Hetzkogel Plateau near Lunz, Austria (1300 m MSL), have been analyzed to determine the effect of sinkhole geometry on temperature minima, diurnal temperature ranges, temperature inversion strengths, and vertical temperature gradients. Data were analyzed for a non-snow-covered October night and for a snow-covered December night when the temperature fell as low as -28.5°C. A surprising finding is that temperatures were similar in two sinkholes with very different drainage areas and depths. A three-layer model was used to show that the skyview factor is the most important topographic parameter controlling cooling for basins in this size range in nearcalm, clear-sky conditions and that the cooling slows when net longwave radiation at the floor of the sinkhole is nearly balanced by the ground heat flux. Œ 2004 American Meteorological Society.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
- External organisation(s)
- ZAMG, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Journal
- Journal of Applied Meteorology
- Volume
- 43
- Pages
- 1224-1236
- No. of pages
- 13
- ISSN
- 0894-8763
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(2004)043<1224:MTDTRA>2.0.CO;2
- Publication date
- 2004
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 1030 Physics, Astronomy
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/minimum-temperatures-diurnal-temperature-ranges-and-temperature-inversions-in-limestone-sinkholes-of-different-sizes-and-shapes(ce639876-1888-44df-902b-b4f573e28f6f).html