Sea breeze

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

The sea breeze and gravity‐current frontogenesis

Abstract: The development of a sea-breeze circulation into a sea-breeze front in often observed late in the afternoon. Measurements of horizontal temperature and humidity profiles in a number of sea-breeze circulation, made using an instrumented light aircraft, are presented. On each of the four days for which data are presented an initial weak horizontal temperature gradient, extending over a distance of 5 to 10 kilometres, developed later in the into a sharp front only a few hundred metres across. The data are discussed in terms of simple gravity-current frontogenesis models applied to the development of sharp sea-breeze front from an initial diffuse transition between the air over the land sea. Examination of the equations for frontogenesis, and the result of some previous laboratory experiments on gravity-current frontogenesis, lead to the proposal that, given sufficient contrast between land and sea temperatures, the formation of a sea-breeze front depends on the balance between convergent horizontal winds which act to generate a front, and turbulent convective mixing over the land which tends to prevent its formation. the differences in driving force, wind convergence and turbulent intensity are discussed for each day on which data are available and are shown to be consistent with the theory proposed.

A climatological study of the influence of synoptic-scale flows on sea breeze evolution in the Bay of Alicante (Spain)

Abstract: The focus of this study is on sea breeze (SB) characteristics during May and August in the Bay of Alicante (south-eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, IP, Spain) for the period 2000-2005 in relation to dominating synoptic-scale winds A dataset containing 292 SB events was objectively constructed to study the impact of the daily synoptic winds at 850 hPa on the main characteristics of SBs The winds were used to designate three major synoptic-scale regimes: offshore, onshore, and coast-parallel flows The SB features examined include mean lag of the SB passage, wind speed and direction at the time of onset, mean lag of SB cessation, mean duration of SB, mean maximum velocity, and inland propagation of SB Some of the characteristics had not been previously considered in the literature It is found that in comparison with onshore synoptic flows, offshore favors the delayed arrival and termination of SBs, resulting in a longer mean duration Further, they produce the most intense passages, cause a more frequent southeasterly component, and result in a higher SB gust speed and shorter mean inland penetration Results from coast-parallel flows are also presented The strength of the large-scale flows plays a major role upon SB parameters, which essentially support other numerical modeling results

Sea Breezes Shallow and Deep on the California Coast

Abstract: Analyses of Doppler lidar data reveal sea breezes occurring on two different depth and time scales at Monterey Bay, California, on a day with offshore gradient flow indicated before sunrise and after sunset. The lidar data used in this study consist of vertical cross sections and profiles of the westerly, onshore wind component u. In the morning after 0900 PST a shallow sea breeze formed, which reached a depth of 300 m by noon. Starting in early afternoon a deeper sea-breeze layer formed in the lowest kilometer, and by late afternoon the shallow sea breeze blended into the deeper sea breeze and was no longer evident. Maximum speeds of 6 m s−1 in the shallow sea breeze occurred at the surface, whereas those in the deep sea breeze (also 6 m s−1) were about 300 m above the surface. It is hypothesized that the shallow sea breeze is a local phenomenon responding to a more local temperature contrast between the sea and the region between the ocean and the mountain ranges. The deeper sea breeze, on the ...