Minimum temperatures, diurnal temperature ranges, and temperature inversions in limestone sinkholes of different sizes and shapes

Autor(en)
Charles David Whiteman, Thomas Haiden, B Pospichal, Stefan Eisenbach, Reinhold Steinacker
Abstrakt

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(en)
Institut für Meteorologie und Geophysik
Externe Organisation(en)
Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik (ZAMG), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Journal
Journal of Applied Meteorology
Band
43
Seiten
1224-1236
Anzahl der Seiten
13
ISSN
0894-8763
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(2004)043<1224:MTDTRA>2.0.CO;2
Publikationsdatum
2004
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
1030 Physik, Astronomie
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/ce639876-1888-44df-902b-b4f573e28f6f