MESOSCALE COASTAL PROCESSES DURING GALE-IOP-2

This study involved analysis of these data for the period 24-26 January 1986 in order to define the structure and dynamics of three features. A coastal front formed in an existing pressure trough over the Gulf Stream as a result of both ageostrophic deformation and differential diabatic heating. The level of strongest frontogenesis was near the surface, with frontolysis calculated above 950 mb. A shallow cyclone formed along the coastal front. As the cyclone moved northward along the front, conditionally unstable, moist, low-level air ahead was forced by the southeasterly flow to rise. A low-level northeasterly jet was also observed over the Carolinas, and formed as a result of the strong low-level pressure gradient created by the proximity of the cold continental air over land and the warm air of the Gulf Stream MABL near the coast. -from Authors