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Sea-breeze scaling from numerical model simulations, Part I: Pure sea breezes

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Abstract

Numerical model simulations of sea-breeze circulations under idealized conditions are subjected to dimensional analyses in order to resolve sea-breeze dynamical relations and unify previous results based on observations. The analysis is motivated by the fact that sea-breeze depth scaling and volume flux scaling are only partially understood. The analysis is based on nonlinear numerical modelling simulations in combination with recent observational scaling analyses. The analysis confirms scaling laws for sea-breeze strength dependence on governing variables and shows how the sea-breeze speed scale is controlled by surface heat flux. It also shows that the sea-breeze depth scale is controlled by stability. By combining sea-breeze speed and depth scales, the sea-breeze volume flux scale is determined by an equilibrium between the accumulated convergence of heat over land since sunrise and stable air advection from the sea surface.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d’Astronomie et de Géophysique Georges Lemaître, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium

    Aurore Porson & Guy Schayes

  2. Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Douw G. Steyn

  3. Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, RG6 6BB, PO Box 243, Reading, UK

    Aurore Porson

Authors
  1. Aurore Porson
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  2. Douw G. Steyn
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  3. Guy Schayes
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Correspondence to Aurore Porson.

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Porson, A., Steyn, D.G. & Schayes, G. Sea-breeze scaling from numerical model simulations, Part I: Pure sea breezes. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 122, 17–29 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-006-9090-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-006-9090-4

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