Zonal surface wind jets across the Red Sea due to mountain gap forcing along both sides of the Red Sea

Houshuo Jiang; J. Thomas Farrar; Robert C. Beardsley; Ru Chen; Changsheng Chen

doi:10.1029/2009GL040008

Zonal surface wind jets across the Red Sea due to mountain gap forcing along both sides of the Red Sea

Houshuo Jiang, J. Thomas Farrar, Robert C. Beardsley, Ru Chen, Changsheng Chen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

105 Scopus citations

Abstract

[1] Mesoscale atmospheric modeling over the Red Sea, validated by in-situ meteorological buoy data, identifies two types of coastal mountain gap wind jets that frequently blow across the longitudinal axis of the Red Sea: (1) an eastward-blowing summer daily wind jet originating from the Tokar Gap on the Sudanese Red Sea coast, and (2) wintertime westward-blowing wind-jet bands along the northwestern Saudi Arabian coast, which occur every 10-20 days and can last for several days when occurring. Both wind jets can attain wind speeds over 15 m s-1 and contribute significantly to monthly mean surface wind stress, especially in the cross-axis components, which could be of importance to ocean eddy formation in the Red Sea. The wintertime wind jets can cause significant evaporation and ocean heat loss along the northeastern Red Sea coast and may potentially drive deep convection in that region. An initial characterization of these wind jets is presented. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.

Original language	English (US)
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	36
Issue number	19
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GL040008
State	Published - Oct 10 2009
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): USA 00001, USA 00002, KSA 00011
Acknowledgements: This study is part of a large research project on the Red Sea initialed in 2008 by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). This short paper represents an initial contribution focusing on the Red Sea winds and is based on work supported by Award Numbers USA 00001, USA 00002, and KSA 00011 made by KAUST. We thank C. E. Dorman, S. J. Lentz, D. J. McGillicuddy, L. J. Pratt, and two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments. We thank J. Kemp, P. Bouchard, J. Smith, and B. Hogue of WHOI, the officers and crew of the R/V Oceanus, and Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem, Yasser Kattan, and Haitham Jahdali of KAUST for making the mooring work a success. HJ also acknowledges support from an Independent and Interdisciplinary Study Award provided by WHOI.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

Access to Document

10.1029/2009GL040008

Cite this

@article{4c809b934c1843429555400a9eddf1a8,

title = "Zonal surface wind jets across the Red Sea due to mountain gap forcing along both sides of the Red Sea",

abstract = "[1] Mesoscale atmospheric modeling over the Red Sea, validated by in-situ meteorological buoy data, identifies two types of coastal mountain gap wind jets that frequently blow across the longitudinal axis of the Red Sea: (1) an eastward-blowing summer daily wind jet originating from the Tokar Gap on the Sudanese Red Sea coast, and (2) wintertime westward-blowing wind-jet bands along the northwestern Saudi Arabian coast, which occur every 10-20 days and can last for several days when occurring. Both wind jets can attain wind speeds over 15 m s-1 and contribute significantly to monthly mean surface wind stress, especially in the cross-axis components, which could be of importance to ocean eddy formation in the Red Sea. The wintertime wind jets can cause significant evaporation and ocean heat loss along the northeastern Red Sea coast and may potentially drive deep convection in that region. An initial characterization of these wind jets is presented. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.",

author = "Houshuo Jiang and Farrar, {J. Thomas} and Beardsley, {Robert C.} and Ru Chen and Changsheng Chen",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): USA 00001, USA 00002, KSA 00011 Acknowledgements: This study is part of a large research project on the Red Sea initialed in 2008 by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). This short paper represents an initial contribution focusing on the Red Sea winds and is based on work supported by Award Numbers USA 00001, USA 00002, and KSA 00011 made by KAUST. We thank C. E. Dorman, S. J. Lentz, D. J. McGillicuddy, L. J. Pratt, and two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments. We thank J. Kemp, P. Bouchard, J. Smith, and B. Hogue of WHOI, the officers and crew of the R/V Oceanus, and Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem, Yasser Kattan, and Haitham Jahdali of KAUST for making the mooring work a success. HJ also acknowledges support from an Independent and Interdisciplinary Study Award provided by WHOI. This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.",

year = "2009",

month = oct,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1029/2009GL040008",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "36",

journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",

issn = "0094-8276",

publisher = "American Geophysical Union",

number = "19",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Zonal surface wind jets across the Red Sea due to mountain gap forcing along both sides of the Red Sea

AU - Jiang, Houshuo

AU - Farrar, J. Thomas

AU - Beardsley, Robert C.

AU - Chen, Ru

AU - Chen, Changsheng

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): USA 00001, USA 00002, KSA 00011 Acknowledgements: This study is part of a large research project on the Red Sea initialed in 2008 by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). This short paper represents an initial contribution focusing on the Red Sea winds and is based on work supported by Award Numbers USA 00001, USA 00002, and KSA 00011 made by KAUST. We thank C. E. Dorman, S. J. Lentz, D. J. McGillicuddy, L. J. Pratt, and two anonymous reviewers for insightful comments. We thank J. Kemp, P. Bouchard, J. Smith, and B. Hogue of WHOI, the officers and crew of the R/V Oceanus, and Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem, Yasser Kattan, and Haitham Jahdali of KAUST for making the mooring work a success. HJ also acknowledges support from an Independent and Interdisciplinary Study Award provided by WHOI. This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

PY - 2009/10/10

Y1 - 2009/10/10

N2 - [1] Mesoscale atmospheric modeling over the Red Sea, validated by in-situ meteorological buoy data, identifies two types of coastal mountain gap wind jets that frequently blow across the longitudinal axis of the Red Sea: (1) an eastward-blowing summer daily wind jet originating from the Tokar Gap on the Sudanese Red Sea coast, and (2) wintertime westward-blowing wind-jet bands along the northwestern Saudi Arabian coast, which occur every 10-20 days and can last for several days when occurring. Both wind jets can attain wind speeds over 15 m s-1 and contribute significantly to monthly mean surface wind stress, especially in the cross-axis components, which could be of importance to ocean eddy formation in the Red Sea. The wintertime wind jets can cause significant evaporation and ocean heat loss along the northeastern Red Sea coast and may potentially drive deep convection in that region. An initial characterization of these wind jets is presented. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.

AB - [1] Mesoscale atmospheric modeling over the Red Sea, validated by in-situ meteorological buoy data, identifies two types of coastal mountain gap wind jets that frequently blow across the longitudinal axis of the Red Sea: (1) an eastward-blowing summer daily wind jet originating from the Tokar Gap on the Sudanese Red Sea coast, and (2) wintertime westward-blowing wind-jet bands along the northwestern Saudi Arabian coast, which occur every 10-20 days and can last for several days when occurring. Both wind jets can attain wind speeds over 15 m s-1 and contribute significantly to monthly mean surface wind stress, especially in the cross-axis components, which could be of importance to ocean eddy formation in the Red Sea. The wintertime wind jets can cause significant evaporation and ocean heat loss along the northeastern Red Sea coast and may potentially drive deep convection in that region. An initial characterization of these wind jets is presented. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union.

UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/600208

UR - http://doi.wiley.com/10.1029/2009GL040008

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=72049083205&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1029/2009GL040008

DO - 10.1029/2009GL040008

M3 - Article

SN - 0094-8276

VL - 36

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

IS - 19

ER -

Zonal surface wind jets across the Red Sea due to mountain gap forcing along both sides of the Red Sea

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this