Seasonal Trend in the Occurrence of Nocturnal Drainage Flow on a Forested Slope Under a Tropical Monsoon Climate

Using data for one year, we examined the vertical wind speed profileson a mountain slope covered with forest in northern Thailand undera tropical monsoon climate. We defined two profile patterns: higherwind speeds at greater heights (Pattern 1) and lower wind speeds atgreater heights (Pattern 2). We classified 9.4% of the data as Pattern 2;this pattern tended to occur during the night, at low wind speeds, and with high outgoing longwave radiation. In addition, stable stratification anddecoupling between the canopy surface air and the overlying layers wereobserved when Pattern 2 occurred frequently. These facts suggested thatPattern 2 was caused by a nocturnal drainage flow. The occurrence ofPattern 2 showed a clear seasonal trend, indicating that there is a seasonaltrend in the occurrence of nocturnal drainage flows. Pattern 2 was observedmore frequently between August and February and less frequently betweenMarch and July. This corresponded to the seasonal trend in wind speed, butdid not correspond to the seasonal trend in the outgoing longwave radiation.