The effects of width of landmasses on the development of sea breezes

Abstract A two-dimensional hydrostatic model has been employed to simulate sea-breeze circulations introduced by different-sized landmasses. The following influences on the sea breeze are examined. 1) environmental thermal stratification, 2) synoptic flow, and 3) latitude. In the simulation of a strip of land with a width of 150 km, the maximum sea-breeze convergence is much better developed than for other widths. This maximum computed upward velocity occurred when two sea-breeze cells from the two sides of the land merge together in the late afternoon. For the experiments presented here, the sea breeze reached the strongest vertical velocity (1.7 m s−1) when the environmental vertical gradient of potential temperature is 2.5°C km−1 with a land width of 150 km. With a very stable static stability, the sea breeze is not well developed. When the sea breeze occurs at 20°N, its intensity is the strongest, presumably because the solar insulation is greatest at this latitude for the separate simulations. At 60°...