Thermal effect of the sea breeze on the structure of the boundary layer and the heat budget over land

The daytime boundary-layer heating process and the air-land heat budget were investigated over the coastal sea-breeze region by means of observations over the Sendai plain in Japan during the summer. In this area, the onset of the sea breeze begins at the coast around 0900 LST, intruding about 35 km inland by late afternoon. The cold sea breeze creates a temperature difference of over 10°C between the coastal and inland areas in the afternoon. On the other hand, warm air advection due to the combination of the counter-sea breeze and land-to-sea synoptic wind occurs in the layer above the cold sea breeze in the coastal region. Owing to this local warm air advection, there is no significant difference in the daytime heating rate over the entire atmospheric boundary layer between the coastal and inland areas. The sensible heat flux from the land surface gradually decreases as distance from the coastline increases, being mainly attributed to the cold sea breeze. The daytime mean cold air advection due to the sea breeze is estimated asQ _adv ^local =–29 W m^–2 averaged over the sea breeze region (035 km from the coastline). This value is 17% of the surface sensible heat fluxH over the same region. The results of a two-dimensional numerical model show that the value ofQ _adv ^local /H is strongly affected by the upper-level synoptic wind direction. The absolute value ofQ _adv ^local /H becomes smaller when the synoptic wind has the opposite direction of the sea breeze. This condition occurred during the observations used in the present study.     

Inland penetration of the sea breeze over the suburban area of Tokyo

Observational results of the structure of the sea breeze over the urban and suburban areas of Tokyo for four summer days are presented.On two of these days, the inland penetration of the sea breeze front could be clearly traced. In one case, the sea breeze was first observed along the shores of Tokyo Bay around 0900 JST, and propagated in three hours through the Tokyo City area, the width of which is about 20 km. It then advanced inland at a rate of 16 km h^–1. Prior to the arrival of the sea breeze at the suburban site, the mixing height had remained at about 600 m for four hours. With the arrival of the sea breeze front, accompanied by an abrupt change in wind speed and direction, the mixing height increased sharply to 1700 m. It is suggested that this behavior and the structure of the front are intensified due to the urban effect, or the difference in the thermal characteristics between the urban and rural areas.On the days without a sea breeze front, the land breeze system during the early morning was less intense, allowing the sea breeze to develop simultaneously with the inland valley wind and easily form a large-scale local wind system during the morning hours. In both cases, the vertical motion accompanying the local wind system works as a feedback mechanism to control the local winds by modifying the thermal and pressure fields.     

Inland and Offshore Propagation Speeds of a Sea Breeze from Simulations and Measurements

The inland and offshore propagation speeds of a sea breeze circulation cell are simulated using a three-dimensional hydrostatic model within a terrain-following coordinate system. The model includes a third-order semi-Lagrangian advection scheme, which compares well in a one-dimensional stand-alone test with the more complex Bott and Smolarkiewicz advection schemes. Two turbulence schemes are available: a local scheme by Louis (1979) and a modified non-local scheme based on Zhang and Anthes (1982). Both compare well with higher-order closure schemes using the Wangara data set for Day 33–34 (Clark et al., 1971).Two-dimensional cross-sections derived from airborne sea breeze measurements (Finkele et al. 1995) constitute the basis for comparison with two-dimensional numerical model results. The offshore sea breeze propagation speed is defined as the speed at which the seaward extent of the sea breeze grows offshore. On a study day, the offshore sea breeze propagation speed, from both measurements and model, is -3.4 m s^-1. The measured inland propagation speed of the sea breeze decreased somewhat during the day. The model results show a fairly uniform inland propagation speed of 1.6 m s^-1 which corresponds to the average measured value. The offshore sea breeze propagation speed is about twice the inland propagation speed for this particular case study, from both the model and measurements.The influence of the offshore geostrophic wind on the sea breeze evolution, offshore extent and inland penetration are investigated. For moderate offshore geostrophic winds (-5.0 m s^-1), the offshore and inland propagation speeds are non-uniform. The offshore extent in moderate geostrophic wind conditions is similar to the offshore extent in light wind conditions (-2.5 m s^-1). The inland extent is greater in light offshore geostrophic winds than in moderate ones. This suggests that the offshore extent of the sea breeze is less sensitive to the offshore geostrophic wind than its inland extent. However, these results hold only if it is possible to define an inland propagation speed. For stronger offshore geostrophic winds (-7.5 m s^-1), the sea breeze is completely offshore and the inland propagation speed is ill-defined.     

Observations of sea breeze events in Rome and the surrounding area by a network of Doppler sodars

In the period June–July 1992, four Doppler sodars were operated simultaneously in Rome and the surrounding area. The data have been used to investigate the contributions from sea breeze events to the local low-level circulation. Three days in which synoptic-scale pressure gradients were weak have been selected. A number of characteristics of the sea breeze are examined including the onset and cessation of the phenomenon, the behavior of the wind speed, and the depth of the density flow. The time propagation of the events and the influence of orography are obtained from a comparison between the data at different sites. The low-level circulation in the early morning is associated with the land breeze and appears to be enhanced by a mountain wind from the surrounding hills. The observed behavior of the vertical velocity field associated with the sea breeze is consistent with model predictions.     

Available potential energy of the daily coastal circulation at Zadar (Croatia)

Summary The aim of this study is the evaluation of the sea breeze speed on the basis of its energy. Energetics of the sea breeze can be studied by means of the available potential energy (APE). Part of this energy is transformed into the kinetic energy of the sea breeze. Some similarity exists between the large scale processes of the circulation and the small coastal air circulation due to the fact that both circulations are triggered by the same physics, i.e., solenoidal activity of the baroclinic atmosphere. To evaluate the sea breeze speed, APE was calculated by use of the Lorenz’s equation (1955), and which is possible if the coastal circulation is considered to be a closed system in a hydrostatic equilibrium. For calculations and verifications hourly sea-surface temperatures, near-ground air temperatures and wind speed measurements, as well as the radio-sounding measurements at 12 UTC were used at the Zadar station (ϕ = 44° 08′ N, λ = 15° 13′ E), which is situated in the central part of the eastern Adriatic coast. Two days with an undisturbed sea breeze circulation were extracted using the methods for minimizing other atmospheric influences. Calculated hourly near ground sea breeze speeds obtained in this way were higher than the measured ones. With the assumption that some of the APE is transformed into the kinetic energy it is possible to obtain characteristic speed of the developed sea breeze with small discrepancies to the near-ground measurements. If 6.6% of the mean daily near ground APE was taken to be transformed to the mean daily kinetic sea breeze energy on the 29th and 4.2% on the 30th September 2002, the best agreement was obtained with the mean daily measured near ground sea breeze speed. This range of values can be attributed to inability to extract precise values for the lapse-rate needed in the APE sea breeze calculations. Results show similarities to the general circulation of the atmosphere, since about 10% of the APE is transformed to the kinetic energy of the sea breeze. On the other hand calculated wind speed at the lower branch of the borderline coastal circulation was not dependent on the integral value of the APE over the land, but on its value at the near-ground level.     

基于WRF模拟的晋江市海陆风特征分析

随着沿海城市的快速发展,城市气候环境恶化,研究弱大气环流背景下的海陆风对改善城市环境具有重要意义。以晋江市为例,利用站点风要素观测数据,结合海陆风判别条件,提取并分析了两个典型海陆风日海陆风的基本特征;采用WRF与Noah陆面过程模式耦合,选用BEP多层城市冠层模型,对典型日进行了风场模拟。从模拟结果中分解出局地风,在验证海陆风现象的基础上,分析了海陆风特征的空间分布规律。结果显示:WRF模拟的逐小时局地风向时序与实测情况吻合较好,通过了信度为0.05的显著性检验,但局地风速模拟值与实测值存在显著差异,平均达到1 m/s。从WRF模拟结果提取的海、陆风起始和终止时间、持续时间与实际情况存在一定差别。两者持续时间在空间上的变化与各自起始时间的空间变化一致,且未明显出现随离岸距离增加,海陆风减弱的现象。上述结果表明,WRF能够较好地模拟海陆风日的风场特征,尽管对海、陆风速的模拟还存在一定的不确定性,但所得结论对晋江市城市规划和微环境改善有参考意义。     

Sea/land breeze climatological characteristics along the northern Croatian Adriatic coast

Summary Climatological characteristics along the northern Croatian Adriatic coast have been examined for nine meteorological stations for the summertime sea/land breeze circulation. The stations considered are Pula-airport, Opatija, Rijeka, Senj, Malinska, Rijeka-airport, Mali Lošinj, Rab and Zadar. The hourly surface measurements at each station from June to September for the period 1991–2004 as well as the radiosoundings in Zadar (from 2002 to 2004) were used for the analysis. A dataset with the sea/land breeze days was formed according to the several criteria. The mean daily maxima of both air and sea surface temperatures were more influenced by the large scale disturbances toward north (e.g. in Rijeka or Opatija) compared to the values for e.g. Zadar. Furthermore, the influence of the large scale disturbances diminished toward the south concerning the sea–land temperature difference only at the stations placed at Rijeka Bay and Velebit channel. The strongest sea breeze was found at Pula-airport and the most frequent ones at Opatija and Zadar. At Senj the rarest, the weakest and the shortest sea breeze was observed. The climatological records of wind speed and air-sea temperature difference (ΔT) showed for Opatija, Malinska and Zadar that the maximum measured wind speed is around 4.5 °C confirming the nonlinear relationship between the sea breeze speeds and the ΔT during the day. At most stations, the clockwise rotation of the hodographs prevails which is typical for the Northern hemisphere due to Coriolis force, with the exception at Senj and Malinska. While the hodographs for Pula, Rijeka-airport and Mali Lošinj display a later onset of the prevailing sea breeze because of the interaction among several sea breeze circulations, the results for Opatija, Zadar and Senj show considerably distorted hodographs because of the nearby channeling of the air flow.     

Simulation of coastal winds along the central west coast of India using the MM5 mesoscale model

A high-resolution mesoscale numerical model (MM5) has been used to study the coastal atmospheric circulation of the central west coast of India, and Goa in particular. The model is employed with three nested domains. The innermost domain of 3 km mesh covers Goa and the surrounding region. Simulations have been carried out for three different seasons—northeast (NE) monsoon, transition period and southwest (SW) monsoon with appropriate physics options to understand the coastal wind system. The simulated wind speed and direction match well with the observations. The model winds show the presence of a sea breeze during the NE monsoon season and transition period, and its absence during the SW monsoon season. In the winter period, the synoptic flow is northeasterly (offshore) and it weakens the sea breeze (onshore flow) resulting in less diurnal variation, while during the transition period, the synoptic flow is onshore and it intensifies the sea breeze. During the northeast monsoon at an altitude of above 750 m, the wind direction reverses, and this is the upper return current, indicating the vertical extent of the sea breeze. A well-developed land sea breeze circulation occurs during the transition period, with vertical extension of 300 and 1,100 m, respectively.     

葫芦岛沿岸海陆风特征及其环境效应

利用葫芦岛观测站1980—2009年观测资料,分析了葫芦岛沿岸海陆风风速的季节特征和日变化规律,以及海陆风环流对沿岸环境的影响。结论如下:1)葫芦岛站点在冬季出现海陆风日数最多,其他依次为秋季、夏季和春季。陆风风速从春季到冬季呈现递减趋势;海风在春季最大,其次为秋季的,冬季的最小。总体上,海陆风日中海风要强于陆风。2)对海陆风风速椭圆拟合结果表明,海陆风在10:32由陆风转化为海风,海风在16:32达到最大,在21:42由海风转化为陆风,陆风在04:32达到最大。3)由于海风的存在,沿岸地带在春夏两季日最高气温在12时出现,秋冬季的在13时出现。4)能见度日变化在四季中表现一致,早晨能见度转好的时刻比最低气温出现时刻滞后约2 h,在海风维持较长时间后空气绝对湿度增加导致能见度开始转差。5)冬季静止型海陆风日比例最高,再循环型海陆风日在秋季出现最多,而夏季通风型海陆风日出现最多。     

Characteristics of the sea breeze in Attica,Greece

The characteristics of the sea breeze in the Attica region of Greece, in which Athens is located, have been studied for occasions of weak synoptic-scale pressure gradient. The analysis is based on synoptic observations from six meteorological stations, three on the coast and three inland. The three inland stations and one of the coastal stations lie almost in a straight line at different distances from the coast. For each meteorological station, the basic characteristics of the sea breeze were determined, i.e.,

1. The mean number of sea-breeze days for each calendar month.
2. The monthly mean wind speed for each synoptic hour.
3. The times of onset and cessation of the sea breeze.
4. The monthly vector mean wind, and its constancy ‘Constancy’ is defined as 100{itV{inr}/V{ins}}, where {itV{inr}} is the magnitude of the vector mean wind, and {itV{ins}} is the scalar mean wind speed. See Brooks and Carruthers (1953). (In this paper, the factor 100 is not used.) for each synoptic hour.
5. For days on which there was a sea breeze at Helliniko (the coastal reference station), the percentage number of days on which there was also a sea breeze at the given station.

An attempt was also made to determine further characteristics, such as the inland penetration of the sea breeze, its depth, the spatial and temporal variation of wind speed and direction, and the existence of the return flow. Finally, the properties of the land breeze are briefly outlined.     

Recycling of suspended particulates by the interaction of sea-land breeze circulation and complex coastal terrain

Summary The dispersion of recycled particulates in the complex coastal terrain surrounding Kangnung city, Korea was investigated using a three-dimensional non-hydrostatic numerical model and lagrangian particle model (or random walk model). The results show that particulates at the surface of the city that float to the top of thermal internal boundary layer (TIBL) are then transported along the eastern slope of the mountains with the sea breeze passage and nearly reach the top of the mountains. Those particulates then disperse eastward at this upper level over the coastal sea and finally spread out over the open sea. Total suspended particulate (TSP) concentration near the surface of Kangnung city is very low. At night, synoptic scale westerly winds intensify due to the combined effect of the synoptic scale wind and land breeze descending the eastern slope of the mountains toward the coast and further seaward. This increase in speed causes development of internal gravity waves and a hydraulic jump up to a height of about 1km above the surface over the city. Particulate matter near the top of the mountains also descends the eastern slope of the mountains during the day, reaching the central city area and merges near the surface inside the nocturnal surface inversion layer (NSIL) with a maximum ground level concentration of TSP occurring at 0300 LST. Some particulates are dispersed following the propagation area of internal gravity waves and others in the NSIL are transported eastward to the coastal sea surface, aided by the land breeze. The following morning, particulates dispersed over the coastal sea from the previous night, tend to return to the coastal city of Kangnung with the sea breeze, developing a recycling process and combine with emitted surface particulates during the morning. These processes result in much higher TSP concentration. In the late morning, those particulates float to the top of the TIBL by the intrusion of the sea breeze and the ground level TSP concentration in the city subsequently decreases.     

Development of selection algorithms and databases for sea breeze studies

We present an automated and manual algorithm for identifying past sea breeze episodes in the Bay of Alicante (southeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, IP, Spain) for a 6-year study period (2000–2005). The main goal was to provide databases for better understanding the functioning of sea breezes, which have a crucial influence on weather and climate in both coastal and inland areas and therefore affect human life in many ways. The algorithms apply a well-defined set of criteria based on meteorological and sea surface temperature measurements in order to detect past occurrences. The automated and manual identification techniques successfully identified a total of 475 and 1414 sea breeze events, respectively. A large database containing the significant characteristic parameters measured (onset time, cessation time, duration time, maximum wind speed, inland penetration, etc.) for these 475 sea breeze days is presented. We evaluated the accuracy of both selection techniques by means of comparison with independent objective and subjective techniques. Both databases are the major contribution of this paper and have been used in some climatological sea breeze studies and are also presented here for any coastal expert interested in numerical–theoretical, observational–experimental and climatological wind studies.     

一次冷锋过境后的海风三维结构数值模拟

为研究大尺度系统风对海风的影响以及海风三维结构特征,利用山东省123个地面自动站资料、青岛地区三十多个内陆及沿海、海岛观测站以及奥帆赛场3个浮标站资料,对2006年8月21日青岛一次海风个例进行了分析,并利用美国俄克拉荷马大学风暴分析预测中心开发的ARPS(the Advanced Regional Prediction System)模式,对海风过程进行了数值模拟研究。结果发现:在较强的离岸风背景下,当内陆气温高于海面气温2℃左右时,海风也可以发生。海风首先在海岸线附近的海上开始,发展的同时向内陆及远海地区推进。海风低层环流很浅,主要位于500 m以下。在较强的偏北离岸风下,海风向内陆推进的距离很短。偏北的大尺度系统风由于渤海冷下垫面的影响,不利于青岛海风的维持。海风开始时,在1500～2500 m高度处同时有反环流出现,但直到傍晚前后,海风的垂直环流圈才发展得比较清晰,其高度也更接近地面。海风消亡后,高层的垂直环流圈及反环流维持3 h左右才逐渐消亡。     

湛江东海岛二月海陆风环流特征研究

利用2011年2月湛江东海岛风廓线雷达资料,系统分析了湛江东海岛2月平均风场特征及海陆风特征,结果表明:2月湛江东海岛150 m高度处以东偏北出现频率最大,在E、ENE和NE三个方位的风向出现频率之和为66.6%,偏西七个方位的风向出现频率之和仅为1%。以SSW方位为界,偏东风与偏西风的出现频率差异明显。各整点的月平均风速1:00—15:00变化较小,均在1 m/s左右波动;15:00—20:00风速及风速波动都较大,最大值出现在16:00时,为2.1 m/s。2011年2月中只有2日与14日两日符合海陆风日条件,两日共同海风时段为13:00—20:00,持续7 h;陆风时段为2:00—7:00,持续5 h。海风平均风速为2.1 m/s,陆风平均风速为0.8 m/s,海风平均风速明显大于陆风风速。海风与陆风环流垂直高度相差甚小,约1.2 km,风速随高度变化趋势均为先增后减;海风最大风速出现在750 m高度处,陆风出现在500 m高度处,500～750 m高度区间海风环流强度明显强于陆风环流。2 km之上为均匀一致的系统性西风环流。     

2008年秋季从化山谷风观测研究

利用2008年10月15日—11月16日在广州从化获得的基线小球测风资料,分析研究了秋季从化山谷风的特征。研究表明:从化山谷风主要出现在系统风速小于1.5 m/s,谷风出现时间为10:00—18:00,山风强度比谷风强度大;山谷风厚度大致为300 m,回流出现高度在300～700 m;山谷风转换期间,静小风频率较高;系统风与山谷风方向相反时,山谷风高度内多为静小风。冷锋过境时不会出现山谷风。     

Impact of a sea breeze on the boundary-layer dynamics and the atmospheric stratification in a coastal area of the North Sea

In-situ sodar and lidar measurements were coupled with numerical simulations for studying a sea-breeze event in a flat coastal area of the North Sea. The study’s aims included the recognition of the dynamics of a sea-breeze structure, and its effects on the lower troposphere stratification and the three-dimensional (3D) pollutant distribution. A sea breeze was observed with ground-based remote sensing instruments and analysed by means of numerical simulations using the 3D non-hydrostatic atmospheric model Meso-NH. The vertical structure of the lower troposphere was experimentally determined from the lidar and sodar measurements, while numerical simulations focused on the propagation of the sea breeze inland. The sea-breeze front, the headwind, the thermal internal boundary layer, the gravity current and the sea-breeze circulation were observed and analysed. The development of a late stratification was also observed by the lidar and simulated by the model, suggesting the formation of a stable multilayered structure. The transport of passive tracers inside the sea breeze and their redistribution above the gravity current was simulated too. Numerical modelling showed that local pollutants may travel backward to the sea above the gravity current at relatively low speed due to the shearing between the landward gravity current and the seaward synoptic wind. Such dynamic conditions may enhance an accumulation of pollutants above coastal industrial areas.     

海南岛海风演变特征的观测分析

本文利用2012年海南岛19个常规气象站、5个海岛站的逐时资料以及海口站的探空资料,对海南岛海风的时空演变特征及在不同天气条件下海风发展的特征进行了统计分析,结果表明:2012年全年海南岛的海风多发生于春、秋季,频率分别为40%和33%,冬季最少(约为19%),尤其是一月,大部分站点均不足10%。夏季海风出现时刻较早;南部沿海海风结束时间晚于北部沿海;冬季海风开始得较晚,南部海风结束时间早于北部沿海。海风平均持续时间约为10 h。沿海站的海风风速主要集中在3~6 m·s~(-1),且最大风速值出现在春季,除琼山、海口站外,最大海风强度多出现于春夏季。内陆站中部山区附近海风出现频率较高、开始时刻较早、持续时间较长、强度也较大。海风向内陆的传播距离至少为70 km;海风易发生在阴天,其次为多云天气,少云日的海风最少。     

多云天气下海南岛地形对局地海风环流结构影响的数值模拟

采用WRF中尺度天气预报模式,针对海南岛多云天气条件下的一次典型海风个例,对局地海风环流结构进行数值模拟,分析海风环流的演变特征,并通过设计改变海南岛地形的敏感性试验,探究地形对海南岛局地海风环流结构以及云水分布的影响。结果表明:海岛西部陡峭的山区造成海风强迫抬升,偏南背景风使得海岛北部高空回流明显,海岛西部、北部的海风结构较为完整;地形高度越高,海岛南部山区的阻挡作用越强,西部地区的海风高空回流特征越显著,西部、西北部云水混合比的位置也越深入内陆;受南海季风的影响,与晴空天气相比,多云天气下海风强盛期全岛的最大风速稍大,海风在垂直方向上达到的高度更高;移平地形后,多云天气下全岛风速平均仅减少2~3 m·s^-1,而晴空天气下全岛风速则大大减弱,即多云天气下海风环流水平结构受地形的影响比晴空天气下弱。     

Characteristics of Spatiotemporal Distribution of Sea Surface Wind along the East Coast of Guangdong Province

We analyzed the frequency distribution characteristics of wind speeds occurring at different offshore sites within a range of 0–200 km based on the sea surface wind data captured via buoys and oil platforms located along the east coast of Guangdong Province. The results of the analysis showed that average wind speed measured for each station reached a maximum in winter while minima occurred in summer, corresponding to obvious seasonal variation, and average wind speed increased with offshore distance. The prevailing wind direction at the nearshore site is the easterly wind, and the frequency of winds within 6–10 m s^–1 is considerable with that of winds at > 10 m s^–1. With the increase of the offshore distance, the winds were less affected by the land, and the prevailing wind direction gradually became northerly winds, predominately those at > 10 m s^–1. For areas of shorter offshore distance (< 100 km), surface wind speeds fundamentally conformed to a two-parameter Weibull distribution, but there was a significant difference between wind speed probability distributions and the Weibull distribution in areas more than 100 km offshore. The mean wind speeds and wind speed standard deviations increased with the offshore distance, indicating that with the increase of the wind speed, the pulsation of the winds increased obviously, resulting in an increase in the ratio of the mean wind speed to the standard deviation of wind speed. When the ratio was large, the skewness became negative. When a relatively great degree of dispersion was noted between the observed skewness and the skewness corresponding to the theoretical Weibull curve, the wind speed probability distribution could not be adequately described by a Weibull distribution. This study provides a basis for the verification of the adaptability of Weibull distribution in different sea areas.     

Characteristics of sea breeze front development with various synoptic conditions and its impact on lower troposphere ozone formation

To examine the correlation between the sizes of sea breeze fronts and pollutants under the influence of synoptic fields, a numerical simulation was conducted in the southeast coastal area of the Korean Peninsula, where relatively high concentrations of pollutants occur because of the presence of various kinds of industrial developments. Sea breeze and sea breeze front days during the period 2005-09 were identified using wind profiler data and, according to the results, the number of days were 72 and 53, respectively. When synoptic forcing was weak, sea breeze fronts moved fast both in horizontal fields and in terms of wind velocity, while in the case of strong synoptic forcing, sea breeze fronts remained at the coast or moved slowly due to strong opposing flows. In this case, the sea breeze front development function and horizontal potential temperature difference were larger than with weak synoptic forcing. The ozone concentration that moves together with sea breeze fronts was also formed along the frontal surfaces. Ozone advection and diffusion in the case of strong synoptic forcing was suppressed at the frontal surface and the concentration gradient was large. The vertical distribution of ozone was very low due to the Thermal Internal Boundary Layer (TIBL) being low.