On the wind field in the Loisach valley — Numerical simulation and comparison with the LOWEX III data

Summary A three-dimensional nonhydrostatic model, forced by a surface energy budget, has been used to study thermally induced circulation in mountainous terrain. The numerical results were compared with observed wind data of the LOWEX-Experiment realized in the Loisach valley near Garmisch. Although the qualitative agreement in space and time is reasonable, the model underpredicts especially the valley wind by a factor of two. The complex structure of the simulated airflow in this region illustrates the difficulties of field experiments to find out the main characteristics of such circulations. In two sensitivity studies, the effect of the size of the integration region and the effect of a slight variation in direction of the larger scale wind is discussed.With 18 Figures