Gas diffusion over an isolated hill under neutral, stable and unstable conditions

Wind tunnel experiments of gas diffusion were performed over flat terrain and over an isolated three-dimensional hill under neutral, stable and unstable (sea breeze) conditions. Conditions of airflow in the wind tunnel were determined so as to satisfy the similarity rule for the bulk Richardson number, by controlling temperature profiles and wind velocity of the thermally stratified wind tunnel. Typical characteristics were observed under each condition of atmospheric stability; reversed vortex behind the hill in neutral condition, downward slope wind in stable one and convective motion in unstable one. We compared these experiments with the results of a Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) model for the wind velocity over the hill under neutral conditions. The numerical results showed good agreement with the experimental results.