Abstract
Small clouds may form above small hills when moist air blows over a landscape. Removal of droplets from these clouds by raindrops from above is the only suggested mechanism which directly links rainfall patterns to small scale topographical features. This mechanism is examined theoretically, and results from a series of computations are presented. The properties of condensation nuclei are found to be of minor importance for the condensation development, because the activation of nuclei dwindles off when enough droplets have been formed, and because a droplet assembly is an instable phenomenon. Additional rainfall over small hills is found to be sufficiently large to explain observed influences of small scale terrain features on precipitation in Scandinavia.
© 1976 Per B. Storebø, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.