DOMEX: Island Wakes

For the next few weeks most of my entries will be with regards to DOMEX, a field project on the Island on Dominica in the Lesser Antilles. The goal of the project is to explore the dynamics that contribute to intense orographic precipitation that occurs on the mountains of Dominica. Scattered cumulus congestus in the easterly trade wind flow advect on shore and then experience bulk orographic ascent of the air mass, which frequently leads to widespread convection anchored to the mountains.

Today is the first day in sometime, from what I've been told that has a good trade wind flow with a healthy field of upstream cumulus. In the image below you can see the cumulus to the east of the Islands, some orographic clouds, but also a striking feature known as Island wakes:


It is visually very apparent that there are cloud free regions down stream of each Island with tongues of flow between the island gaps. There appear to be convergent bands of cumulus along the edges of the wake flow and the gap flow.