Formulation of an index for sea breezes in opposing winds

Porson, A.;Steyn, D. G.;Schayes, Guy
(2007) Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology — Vol. 46, n° 8, p. 1257-1263 (2007)

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  • Porson, A.
    Author
  • Steyn, D. G.
    Author
  • Schayes, GuyUCLouvain
    Author
Abstract
A scaling analysis is conducted to explore the dependence of sea-breeze speed and inland occurrence in the presence of opposing winds on a set of dynamical parameters. The overall aim of the analysis is to develop an index for sea-breeze occurrence in the face of opposing winds, similar to the Biggs and Graves lake-breeze index. Most studies separate sea-breeze speed and sea-breeze inland occurrence or, at best, link the two in linear analyses. This work analyzes the output of a nonlinear numerical mesoscale model ( in idealized simulations) using scaling methods commonly applied in observational studies. It is found that the scaled sea-breeze speed, in response to increasing magnitude of opposing wind, shows two distinct phases: a phase of increasing speed while the sea breeze progresses inland and a phase of sharply decreasing speed when the sea breeze is no longer detected inland. The analysis also allows the development of an index for sea-breeze inland occurrence. This index is an improvement over existing analyses through the use of nonlinear scaling and the use of surface heat flux as opposed to simpler land-sea temperature contrasts.
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Porson, A., Steyn, D. G., & Schayes, G. (2007). Formulation of an index for sea breezes in opposing winds. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 46(8), 1257-1263. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAM2525.1 (Original work published 2007)