S. Alonso et al., 1ST CONSIDERATIONS ON THE STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE IBERIAN THERMAL LOW-PRESSURE SYSTEM, Annales geophysicae, 12(5), 1994, pp. 457-468
During the summer a thermal low-pressure system is locked over the Ibe
rian Peninsula. We present a first analysis of such a system using the
potential vorticity approach. Our results show that its main characte
ristic is the existence of a negative potential vorticity (PV) dome an
d a funnel-like structure for potential temperature, both located at t
he centre of the low. The build-up and evolution of this PV dome can b
e understood in terms of the dot products of the absolute vorticity an
d the gradient of diabatic heating vectors and the curl of the frictio
n forces and the gradient of potential temperature vectors. The inhibi
tion of the Algerian Mediterranean cyclogenesis during the summer seem
s to bear some relation to the existence of this kind of low-pressure
disturbance over the Iberian Peninsula.