Evaluation of Soil Moisture Effects on the Generation and Modification of Mesoscale Circulations

Abstract

The current study provides an evaluation of thermally induced circulation over flat terrain due to nonuniform horizontal distribution of soil moisture availability. Additionally, the effect of soil moisture availability on the thermally induced upslope flow during the daylight hours is examined. The results indicate that in flat terrain, which has a nonhomogeneous moisture availability, the intensity of thermal circulations approaches that of sea-breeze circulations for the case of large contrasts. Even small amounts of water in thesoil, adjacent to dry areas, can still result in a significant mesoscale flow. The upslope flow has been indicated to be perturbed significantly when the moisture availability ii~creases or when the horizontal contrast of soil moisture availability becomes large.