earth science

Mountain-gap wind

Mountain-gap wind is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mountain-gap wind rather than just read about it. In short: A mountain-gap wind, gap wind or gap flow is a local wind blowing through a gap between mountains. Gap winds are low-level winds and can be associated with strong winds of 20-40 knots and on occasion exceeding 50 knots.

Key takeaways

Mountain-gap wind belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mountain-gap wind to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mountain-gap wind from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A mountain-gap wind, gap wind or gap flow is a local wind blowing through a gap between mountains. Gap winds are low-level winds and can be associated with strong winds of 20-40 knots and on occasion exceeding 50 knots. Gap winds are generally strongest close to gap exit. Example flows include the surface winds blowing through the Strait of Gibraltar – one of the strongest winds in this region is called Levanter. Similar winds occur at other gaps in mountain ranges, such as the tehuantepecer and the jochwinde, and in long channels, such as the Strait of Juan de Fuca between the Olympic Mountains of Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Hinlopen Strait near Spitsbergen. In the Columbia River Gorge on the border of Washington and Oregon, the high frequency of gap winds has led to the installation of wind farms, and the large amount of wind surfing that takes place on the Columbia River. Another example is the Koshava wind in Serbia that blows along the Danube River. The South Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains are channelling the flow into the Danube River basin in Romania and the exiting jet at the Iron Gates is known as the Koshava wind. The main characteristics of the Koshava wind are its high wind speed, southeasterly direction, persistence, and gustiness. More generally, corridor winds affect the local climate of a region (south of France), as well as vegetation. They are also vectors of violent fires in the affected areas. The resulting gusts can reach more than 100 km/h and cause property damage.

See also Wind gap (geographical feature) Valley exit jet

References

Further reading Bendall, A. A., 1982: Low-level flow through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Meteorological Magazine, Vol. 111, pp. 149–153 Colle, B. A., C. F. Mass, 2000: High-Resolution Observations and Numerical Simulations of Easterly Gap Flow through the Strait of Juan de Fuca on 9–10 December 1995. Monthly Weather Review: Vol. 128, pp. 2398–2422. Colle, B. A., C. F. Mass, 1998: Windstorms along the Western Side of the Washington Cascade Mountains. Part I: A High-Resolution Observational and Modeling Study of the 12 February 1995 Event. Monthly Weather Review: Vol. 126, pp. 28–52. Overland, J. E., and B. A. Walter, 1981: Gap winds in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Monthly Weather Review: Vol. 109, pp. 2221–2233. Scorer, R.S., 1952: Mountain-gap winds; a study of the surface wind in Gibraltar. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society: Vol. 78, pp. 53–59 Sharp, J. and C. F. Mass, 2002: Columbia Gorge Gap Flow: Insights from Observational Analysis and Ultra-High Resolution Simulation. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: Vol. 83, pp. 1757–1762. Steenburgh, W. J., D. M. Schultz, B. A. Colle, 1998: The Structure and Evolution of Gap Outflow over the Gulf of Tehuantepec, Mexico. Monthly Weather Review: Vol. 126, pp. 2673–2691.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mountain-gap wind

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mountain-gap wind claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mountain-gap wind before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mountain-gap wind ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mountain-gap wind

In research: Mountain-gap wind appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mountain-gap wind in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mountain-gap wind is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Climate change stubs, Mesoscale meteorology, Mountain meteorology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mountain-gap wind outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mountain-gap wind in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mountain-gap wind means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mountain-gap wind out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mountain-gap wind in simple terms?

Why does Mountain-gap wind matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mountain-gap wind?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mountain-gap wind.