WINTER LAND BREEZE IN A HIGH LATITUDE COMPLEX COASTAL AREA

The winter land breeze (WLB) was studied in an area with complex topography on the Swedish West Coast (58°N). Methods used were mapping directions of smoke plumes, temperature soundings by tethered balloon and helicopter, three years of monitoring temperature and wind at three levels on a suspension bridge and on a mast, and meteorological observations from three stations located at different distances from the coast. To initiate the development of the WLB, the necessary temperature difference between sea and land was 5°C, but the magnitude of the difference appeared to have little influence. The direction of the typical WLB was at an oblique angle to the coast. The WLB started with a sudden wind shift as a result of frictional decoupling from the prevailing synoptic wind caused by increased stability. The flow, with a depth of about 100 m, developed within the nocturnal inversion at the level of the plateau-shaped mountains and overrode the cold air in the valleys and followed the uplifted inversion over the city of Göteborg. The different layers in the inversion were tilted toward the sea with an inclination similar to the slope of the terrain. In a layer above the WLB but also within the inversion, there was an onshore wind that might be the return flow to the WLB. Key words: winter land breeze (WLB), decoupling, overriding, urban heat island circulation (UHIC), high latitude, Sweden.]