OHP–APT 2002 gravity wave campaign: waves, turbulence and forecasts

In July 2002, a multi-sensor campaign was conducted in southern France to investigate the hypothesized connection between gravity waves and optical turbulence. A generalized scidar (GS) was mounted on the 1.93 m diameter telescope at l’Observatoire de Haute-Provence (OHP). The GS provides continuous profiles of optical turbulence with 300 m vertical resolution from telescope altitude up to 25 km. Thermosondes, which provide in situ measurement of optical turbulence by measuring temperature variance, were launched at the OHP site and at a site approximately 20 km west-northwest of OHP. Gravity wave activity was deduced from temperature and wind velocity measured by radiosondes, which are part of the thermosonde system. In this paper, gravity waves were analyzed using techniques for simple two-dimensional mountain waves, with only fair results. Mesoscale models were run at moderately high resolution for the period. The forecasts were analyzed for wave activity, and a post processor model was used to diagnose the optical turbulence. Mountain waves were evident in the forecast, but quantitative comparison showed the forecast to be inadequate in predicting wave strength. The forecast optical turbulence was in fair agreement with measurements with notable exceptions.