A Case Study on Wind Speed Oscillations Offshore the West Coast of Central Taiwan

Abstract

Abstract This paper investigates a wind speed oscillation event that occurred near the coastline of central Taiwan in the afternoon of 17 February 2018, using data from observations and numerical simulations. The observed wind speeds at 100-m altitude displayed a fast-oscillating pattern of about 6 cycles between strong winds of approximately 21 m s−1 and weak winds of around 2 m s−1, with periods of about 10 min. The pressure anomalies fluctuated in antiphase with the wind speed anomalies. The synoptic analysis revealed the influence of a continental high pressure system, resulting in a cold-air outbreak over Taiwan. The cold north-northeasterly winds split into two branches upon encountering Taiwan’s topography, with ridging off the east coast and a lee trough off the west coast of Taiwan. Wind oscillations were detected in the low-level cold air offshore the west coast of Taiwan, depicted by wavelike structures in wind speeds, sea level pressure, and potential temperature. The perturbations were identified as Kelvin-Helmholtz billows characterized by regions of strong wind speeds, warm and dry air, sinking motions, and low pressure collocated with each other, while regions of weaker wind speeds, cooler and moister air, ascending motions, and high pressure were associated with each other. With terrain contributing to favorable conditions, the large vertical and horizontal wind shears resulted from the southward acceleration of low-level cold air and the northward movement of the lee trough played an important role in initiating the wind oscillations.