What is a katabatic effect?
Also known as fall winds, katabatic winds are usually caused by gravity pulling higher density air downslope to lower density air.
What are katabatic and Anabatic winds?
Anabatic Winds are upslope winds driven by warmer surface temperatures on a mountain slope than the surrounding air column. Katabatic winds are downslope winds created when the mountain surface is colder than the surrounding air and creates a down slope wind.
What is katabatic drainage?
A katabatic wind (named from the Greek word κατάβασις katabasis, meaning “descending”) is a drainage wind, a wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Such winds are sometimes also called fall winds; the spelling catabatic winds is also used.
Where are katabatic winds strongest?
It is at the steep edge of Antarctica that the strong katabatic winds form as cold air rushes over the land mass. The highest wind speeds recorded in Antarctica were at Dumont d’Urville station in July 1972: 327km/h (199 mph).
How do you say katabatic?
Break ‘katabatic’ down into sounds: [KAT] + [UH] + [BAT] + [IK] – say it out loud and exaggerate the sounds until you can consistently produce them.
Why is katabatic more intense in winter?
The katabatic winds are most pronounced during winter, when there is no incoming solar radiation, and a large pool of cold air over the interior is formed to feed the katabatic flow.
How do katabatic winds work?
Katabatic winds occur when air is cooled from below over sloping terrain. Such cooling causes a shallow blanket of air adjacent to the surface to become colder and therefore heavier than the atmosphere above, thus forming a thermally distinct layer that exchanges little energy with the overlying air.
What is katabatic wind Short answer?
katabatic wind, also called downslope wind, or gravity wind, wind that blows down a slope because of gravity. It occurs at night, when the highlands radiate heat and are cooled.
What is the meaning of katabatic wind?
What is Anabatic wind?
anabatic wind, also called upslope wind, local air current that blows up a hill or mountain slope facing the Sun. During the day, the Sun heats such a slope (and the air over it) faster than it does the adjacent atmosphere over a valley or a plain at the same altitude.
Where is katabatic located?
Warm, dry katabatic winds occur on the lee side of a mountain range situated in the path of a depression. Examples for these descending, adiabatically warmed katabatic winds are the Foehn winds. Cold and usually dry katabatic winds, like the Bora, result from the downslope gravity flow of cold, dense air.
How strong are katabatic winds?
Fairly quiet conditions turn instantaneously, with katabatic winds reaching speeds of 15 to 20 meters per second (50 to 66 ft/sec)! Things are getting pretty wild here on board—I had better go and help everyone lash things down.
How do katabatic winds form?
What is the opposite to katabatic winds?
Anabatic winds
These are in many ways the opposite of katabatic winds. They occur in calm weather and during daytime, perhaps where the sun is shining on one side of a valley. This heats the air on the slope, which then rises, often forming cumulus above the top of the ridge as the warm, moist air cools.
What happens in a katabatic wind?
Which wind is known as katabatic wind?