Sea breeze

About: Sea breeze is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2544 publications have been published within this topic receiving 55651 citations.

Inner-Shelf Response to Cross-Shelf Wind Stress: The Importance of the Cross-Shelf Density Gradient in an Idealized Numerical Model and Field Observations

Abstract: This study investigates the effects of horizontal and vertical density gradients on the inner-shelf response to cross-shelf wind stress by using an idealizednumericalmodel and observations from a mooredarray deployed south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. In two-dimensional (no along-shelf variation) numerical model runs of an initially stratified shelf, a cross-shelf wind stress drives vertical mixing that results in a nearly wellmixed inner shelf with a cross-shelf density gradient because of the sloping bottom. The cross-shelf density gradient causes an asymmetric response to on- and offshore wind stresses. For density increasing offshore, an offshore wind stress drives a near-surface offshore flow and near-bottom onshore flow that slightly enhances the vertical stratification and the cross-shelf circulation. An onshore wind stress drives the reverse cross-shelf circulation reducing the vertical stratification and the cross-shelf circulation. A horizontal Richardson number is shown to be the nondimensional parameter that controls the dependence of the wind-driven nondimensional cross-shelf transport on the cross-shelf density gradient. Field observations show the same empirical relationship between the horizontal Richardson number and transport fraction as the model predicts. These results show that it is the cross-shelf rather than vertical density gradient that is critical to predicting the inner-shelf cross-shelf transport driven by a cross-shelf wind stress.

Characterization of the Vertical Structure of Coastal Atmospheric Boundary Layer over Thumba (.∘N, .∘E) during Different Seasons

Abstract: Vertical profiles of meteorological parameters obtained from balloon-borne GPS Radiosonde for a period of more than two years are analyzed for characterization of the coastal atmospheric boundary layer (CABL) over Thumba (8.5∘N, 76.9∘E, India). The study reports seasonal variability in the thickness of three different sublayers of the CABL, namely, mixed layer, turbulent flow, and sea breeze flow. Among the three, the vertical thickness of sea breeze flow showed considerable dominance on the other two throughout the year. Mixed layer heights derived through gradients in virtual potential temperature (𝜃𝑣) showed large seasonal variability with a peak in the Summer and Post-Monsoon. On the other hand, the vertical thickness of turbulent flow remained steady all through the year. Results from the present study indicate that the magnitudes of mixed layer heights are often larger than the turbulent flow thickness.

The influence of the Atlantic Warm Pool on the Florida panhandle sea breeze

Abstract: [1] In this paper we examine the variations of the boreal summer season sea breeze circulation along the Florida panhandle coast from relatively high resolution (10 km) regional climate model integrations. The 23 year climatology (1979–2001) of the multidecadal dynamically downscaled simulations forced by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–Department of Energy (NCEP-DOE) Reanalysis II at the lateral boundaries verify quite well with the observed climatology. The variations at diurnal and interannual time scales are also well simulated with respect to the observations. We show from composite analyses made from these downscaled simulations that sea breezes in northwestern Florida are associated with changes in the size of the Atlantic Warm Pool (AWP) on interannual time scales. In large AWP years when the North Atlantic Subtropical High becomes weaker and moves further eastward relative to the small AWP years, a large part of the southeast U.S. including Florida comes under the influence of relatively strong anomalous low-level northerly flow and large-scale subsidence consistent with the theory of the Sverdrup balance. This tends to suppress the diurnal convection over the Florida panhandle coast in large AWP years. This study is also an illustration of the benefit of dynamic downscaling in understanding the low-frequency variations of the sea breeze.

Waterspouts and tornadoes over south florida1

Abstract: An analysis of the Lower Matecumbe Key 1967 waterspout data is presented. It was found that the flow field synthesized across the spray vortex of the second, larger waterspout is closely approximated by a Rankine-combined vortex with solid rotation over a circle 24 m in diameter. Five major tornadoes were documented in the Greater Miami area during 1968, and this anomalous number is ascribed to the development of strong localized zones of convergence on the mesoscale along or slightly inland from the southeast coast where the prevailing southwesterly tropospheric flow interacts with the sea breeze induced by the Florida Peninsula. On the other hand, the large number of waterspouts documented in the Lower Keys during the summer of 1968 were spawned by cumulus congestus cloud lines embedded in a very warm undisturbed trade-wind flow. Extensive documentation of close-range observations was obtained for an unusually large “tornadic waterspout” that passed through a crowded coastal marina in Miami. Ev...