katabaticadj.
/ˌkatəˈbatɪk/, U.S. /ˌkædəˈbædɪk/ Meteorology.
Of a wind: blowing down a slope, or from an elevated region to a lower one, esp. when caused by the effect of gravity on air cooled by the underlying ground. Cf. anabatic adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [adjective] > blowing up or down slope
anabatic1918
katabatic1918
1918 Meteorol. Gloss. (Meteorol. Office) (new ed.) 182 A local cold wind is called Katabatic if it is caused by the gravitation of cold air off high ground.
1920 W. J. Humphreys Physics of Air vii. 111 Where the valley is long and rather steep..the down-flowing air current may attain the velocity of a gale and become a veritable aerial torrent. This drainage flow is known..as the mountain breeze, or mountain wind; also canyon wind, katabatic wind, and gravity wind.
1936 Geogr. Jrnl. 87 433 The extremely cold katabatic winds blowing off the high Greenland ice-cap..lowered the temperature.
1954 W. D. Thornbury Princ. Geomorphol. xiv. 362 The radially outflowing winds which Hobbs took as evidence of the existence of a permanent anticyclone over the interior of the Greenland ice cap are really katabatic winds or cold air draining down~slope under the influence of gravity.
1967 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Atmospheric Sci. & Astrogeol. 1153/1 Foehn... This is a gusty katabatic wind which crosses the Alps..and is characterized by dryness and warmth.
Derivatives
kataˈbatically adv. as a result of downward motion.
ΚΠ
1967 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Atmospheric Sci. & Astrogeol. 1152/2 They consist of more or less cool, dry, continental air, nearly always of anticyclonic source, at times katabatically warmed.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1918