Everything about Katabatic Wind totally explained
A
katabatic wind, from the
Greek word
katabatikos meaning "going downhill", is the technical name for 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.
Not all downslope winds are katabatic. For instance, winds such as the
Föhn,
Chinook or
Bergwind, are rain shadow winds where air driven upslope on the windward side of a mountain range drops its moisture and descends leeward drier and warmer.
Katabatic winds can rush down elevated slopes at hurricane speeds, but most are not that intense and many are on the order of 10 knots or less.
Examples of true katabatic winds include the
Mistral in the
Mediterranean, the
Bora (or Bura) in the
Adriatic, the
Santa Ana in southern California, and the
Oroshi in
Japan.
A katabatic wind originates from the cooling by radiation of air atop a plateau, a mountain, glacier, or even a hill. Since the
density of
air increases with lower
temperature, the air will flow downwards, warming
adiabatically as it descends. The temperature of the wind depends on the temperature in the source region and the amount of descent. In the case of the Santa Ana, for example, the wind can (but not always) become hot by the time it reaches sea level. In the case of Antarctica, by contrast, the wind is intensely cold.
Katabatic winds are most commonly found blowing out from the large and elevated ice sheets of
Antarctica and
Greenland. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets and the elevation of the ice sheets brings into play enormous gravitational energy, propelling the winds well over hurricane force. In Greenland these winds are called Pitaraq and are most intense whenever a low pressure area approaches the coast.
In the Fuegian Archipelago (or
Tierra del Fuego ) in South America as well as in Alaska, a wind known as a
williwaw is a particular danger to harbouring vessels. It originates in the snow and ice fields of the coastal mountains. Williwaws commonly blow as high as 100 knots, and 200 knot williwaws have been reported.
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