A characterisation of sea-breeze events in the eastern Cantabrian coast (Spain) from observational data and WRF simulations

The behaviour of the sea breeze along the north coast of Spain is investigated using observations of two topographically contrasting sites together with simulations from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. An objective and systematic selection method is used to detect sea-breeze days from a database of two summer months. The direction and intensity of the sea breeze are significantly affected by the topography of the area; indeed, the estimated sea-breeze intensity shows an opposite relationship with the cross-shore temperature gradient for both sites. WRF simulations reproduce the onset of the sea breeze, but some characteristics are not adequately simulated: they generally overestimate the wind speed, smooth the temperature evolution and they do not represent the correct interaction with the terrain-induced flows. Additionally, four sensitivity experiments are performed with the WRF model varying the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) scheme, as well as the grid analysis nudging for an anomalous case study which is incorrectly filtered. As the two simulations considering nudging reproduce an unreal (not observed) sea breeze, this day turns out to be of great interest: it allows to evaluate the influence of the passage of the sea-breeze front (SBF) in other variables mainly related to turbulence. Furthermore, the best model scores are obtained for the PBL scheme that does not use a TKE closure.

[1]  B. W. Atkinson.  Meso-Scale Atmospheric Circulations , 1981 .

[2]  Hervé Delbarre,et al.  Impact of a sea breeze on the boundary-layer dynamics and the atmospheric stratification in a coastal area of the North Sea , 2007 .

[3]  P. Bechtold,et al.  A numerical investigation of the influence of large-scale winds on sea-breeze- and inland-breeze-type circulations , 1991 .

[4]  Joan Cuxart,et al.  Study of a Sea-Breeze Case through Momentum, Temperature, and Turbulence Budgets* , 2014 .

[5]  R. Arritt,et al.  Effects of the Large-Scale Flow on Characteristic Features of the Sea Breeze , 1993 .

[6]  D. Stauffer,et al.  Use of Four-Dimensional Data Assimilation in a Limited-Area Mesoscale Model. Part I: Experiments with Synoptic-Scale Data , 1990 .

[7]  Richard A. Anthes,et al.  The Height of the Planetary Boundary Layer and the Production of Circulation in a Sea Breeze Model , 1978 .

[8]  Walter A. Lyons,et al.  The Climatology and Prediction of the Chicago Lake Breeze , 1972 .

[9]  Dimitrios Melas,et al.  Study of wind field under sea breeze conditions; an application of WRF model , 2010 .

[10]  R. Sokhi,et al.  Response of London’s Urban Heat Island to a Marine Air Intrusion in an Easterly Wind Regime , 2010, Boundary-Layer Meteorology.

[11]  Julie Pullen,et al.  Forecasting the New York City Urban Heat Island and Sea Breeze during Extreme Heat Events , 2013 .

[12]  E. Mlawer,et al.  Radiative transfer for inhomogeneous atmospheres: RRTM, a validated correlated-k model for the longwave , 1997 .

[13]  G. S. Raynor,et al.  Formation and Characteristics of Coastal Internal Boundary Layers During Onshore Flows , 1979 .

[14]  Jimy Dudhia,et al.  On the Ability of the WRF Model to Reproduce the Surface Wind Direction over Complex Terrain , 2013 .

[15]  J. Simpson.  Sea Breeze and Local Winds , 1994 .

[16]  O. Acevedo,et al.  Investigation of sea-breeze convergence in Salento Peninsula (southeastern Italy) , 2015 .

[17]  J. Dudhia,et al.  A Revised Approach to Ice Microphysical Processes for the Bulk Parameterization of Clouds and Precipitation , 2004 .

[18]  J. Guijarro,et al.  Morning transition case between the land and the sea breeze regimes , 2015 .

[19]  Brian Stone,et al.  Differences between downscaling with spectral and grid nudging using WRF , 2012 .

[20]  Boon N. Chew,et al.  Mesoscale modeling of smoke transport over the Southeast Asian Maritime Continent: Interplay of sea breeze, trade wind, typhoon, and topography , 2013 .

[21]  A. Orfila,et al.  Numerical study of the marine breeze around Mallorca Island , 2013 .

[22]  David R. Stauffer,et al.  Use of Four-Dimensional Data Assimilation in a Limited-Area Mesoscale Model Part II: Effects of Data Assimilation within the Planetary Boundary Layer , 1991 .

[23]  V. Alexandrov,et al.  A comprehensive sensitivity analysis of the WRF model for air quality applications over the Iberian Peninsula , 2008 .

[24]  Luca Delle Monache,et al.  Meteorology For Coastal/Offshore Wind Energy In The United States: Recommendations And Research Needs For The Next 10 Years , 2014 .

[25]  G. Pigeon,et al.  Investigation on the fine structure of sea-breeze during ESCOMPTE experiment , 2005 .

[26]  Roger M. Wakimoto,et al.  Influence of the Synoptic-Scale Flow on Sea Breezes Observed during CaPE , 1997 .

[27]  J. Dudhia,et al.  A New Vertical Diffusion Package with an Explicit Treatment of Entrainment Processes , 2006 .

[28]  R. Rotunno,et al.  Models of Coastally Trapped Disturbances , 1999 .

[29]  Despina Deligiorgi,et al.  Observations of sea-breeze fronts near the shoreline , 1987 .

[30]  A Series of Sea Breeze Observations in the New York City Area , 1963 .

[31]  J. Dudhia,et al.  Coupling an Advanced Land Surface–Hydrology Model with the Penn State–NCAR MM5 Modeling System. Part I: Model Implementation and Sensitivity , 2001 .

[32]  Stephen Dorling,et al.  Idealized WRF model sensitivity simulations of sea breeze types and their effects on offshore windfields , 2012 .

[33]  A. Beljaars.  The parametrization of surface fluxes in large-scale models under free convection , 1995 .

[34]  C. Román-Casćon,et al.  Observations and WRF simulations of fog events at the Spanish Northern Plateau , 2012 .

[35]  C. Azorín-Molina,et al.  A climatological study of the influence of synoptic-scale flows on sea breeze evolution in the Bay of Alicante (Spain) , 2009 .

[36]  Deliang Chen,et al.  A method for finding sea breeze days under stable synoptic conditions and its application to the Swedish west coast , 1998 .

[37]  Z. Janjic.  The Step-Mountain Eta Coordinate Model: Further Developments of the Convection, Viscous Sublayer, and Turbulence Closure Schemes , 1994 .

[38]  Huiting Mao,et al.  Sea breeze: Structure, forecasting, and impacts , 2003 .

[39]  C. Azorín-Molina,et al.  Sea breeze thunderstorms in the eastern Iberian Peninsula. Neighborhood verification of HIRLAM and HARMONIE precipitation forecasts , 2014 .

[40]  R. Arasa,et al.  Modelling Local Sea-Breeze Flow and Associated Dispersion Patterns Over a Coastal Area in North-East Spain: A Case Study , 2011 .

[41]  G. Powers,et al.  A Description of the Advanced Research WRF Version 3 , 2008 .

[42]  R. Romero,et al.  A first numerical simulation of the development and structure of the sea breeze on the Island of Mallorca , 1995 .

[43]  J. Horel,et al.  Sea and Lake Breezes: A Review of Numerical Studies , 2010 .

[44]  Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea,et al.  Transport of Tropospheric Ozone over the Bay of Biscay and the Eastern Cantabrian Coast of Spain , 2000 .

[45]  Philippe Thunis,et al.  Effect of Sea Breeze on Air Pollution in the Greater Athens Area. Part I: Numerical Simulations and Field Observations , 2000 .

[46]  J. Dudhia.  Numerical Study of Convection Observed during the Winter Monsoon Experiment Using a Mesoscale Two-Dimensional Model , 1989 .

[47]  F. Chapin,et al.  Principles of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology , 2002, Springer New York.

[48]  S. Rao,et al.  Study on deep inland penetration of sea breeze over complex terrain in the tropics , 2012 .

[49]  A. Holtslag,et al.  Impacts of topography and land degradation on the sea breeze over eastern Spain , 2003 .

[50]  David H. Levinson,et al.  Evolution of the Monterey Bay Sea-Breeze Layer As Observed by Pulsed Doppler Lidar , 1993 .