A mesoscale model with a horizontal resolution of 20 km was used to perform a simulation of the rapidly deepening continental cyclone of 19--21 July 1996 that produced heavy precipitation and severe flooding in the Saguenay region of Quebec, Canada. Sensitivity experiments were conducted and diagnostics performed to investigate the interactions and relative importance of the forcing mechanisms that led to the explosive cyclogenesis and heavy precipitation. / It is found that condensational heating is integral for the establishment of a phase lock between the surface cyclone and a strong, upper-level short wave trough which steers the cyclone. A weaker trough acts to retard the progression of the stronger trough, ultimately causing the cyclone to be located in a favorable position to interact with orography. Using potential vorticity (PV) inversion diagnostics, the relative contributions to cyclogenesis from the positive anomalies from upper-level PV, condensation-generated PV and surface potential temperature are quantified. The contribution to the precipitation from orographic forcing due to upslope flow is also quantified through sensitivity experiments.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.20589 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Milbrandt, Jason. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001642378, proquestno: MQ44222, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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