What question did this study set out to answer?

To determine whether mountain lee-wave activity contributed to strong, intermittent surface wind gusts that caused a commercial jetliner runway excursion accident at Denver International Airport.

April 8, 2015Journal of Applied Meteorology and ClimatologyOpen Access

Lee Waves Associated with a Commercial Jetliner Accident at Denver International Airport

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Authors

TKTeddie L. KellerNSF National Center for Atmospheric Research STStanley B. TrierNSF National Center for Atmospheric Research WHWilliam D. HallNSF National Center for Atmospheric Research

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Implication

High-resolution numerical simulation reveals that midtropospheric lee waves drove severe surface gusts during an aircraft takeoff accident, highlighting operational forecast resolution limits.

Key Points

To determine whether mountain lee-wave activity contributed to strong, intermittent surface wind gusts that caused a commercial jetliner runway excursion accident at Denver International Airport.
Performed high-resolution multinested numerical simulations of the atmospheric event using the Clark–Hall model, featuring a horizontal grid spacing of 250 m in the innermost domain.
Evaluated model output against a lower-resolution simulation with 3-km horizontal grid spacing, representative of state-of-the-art operational weather forecasting systems.
High-resolution simulation identified that surface gustiness was driven by undulations in a midtropospheric stable layer lee-wave train, which deflected high-velocity air downward to the airport surface.
The 3-km operational-scale model failed to predict the strong surface crosswinds observed during the accident window.

Cite This Study

Keller et al. (2015) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a99497608ab6325d2e132b9 https://doi.org/10.1175/jamc-d-14-0270.1

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Implication

High-resolution numerical simulation reveals that midtropospheric lee waves drove severe surface gusts during an aircraft takeoff accident, highlighting operational forecast resolution limits.

Lee Waves Associated with a Commercial Jetliner Accident at Denver International Airport

Discussion

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Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Lee Waves Associated with a Commercial Jetliner Accident at Denver International Airport

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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