Lagrangian Coherent Structure Analysis of Terminal Winds: Three-Dimensionality, Intramodel Variations, and Flight Analyses

Figure 2

Lagrangian coherent structures from different data sets and their relative positions to the Lantau island. The opaque color maps are the vertical slices of the FTLE fields along and perpendicular to the runways, intersecting at the southern runway threshold towards the west. The thick black curve in each panel is the airplane landing trajectory. The thin black curves are fluid trajectories highlighting the structures, with black arrows indicating direction of flow. The panels are, from left to right, data from RAMS, FLOWSTAR, and WRF, respectively. The top panels are the forward time FTLE and the bottom panels are the backward time FTLE. Axes are given in (d). The red arrow indicates direction of flight. The red dots on sea surface level mark every nautical mile towards the runway threshold. The runway threshold is located at the lowest point of the flight trajectory.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)