Breeze Potential Along the Brazilian Northern and Northeastern Coast

Dayana Castilho de Souza,Marcos Daisuke Oyama

doi:10.5028/jatm.v9i3.787

Abstract

The breeze potential along the Brazilian northern and northeastern coast was studied using wind data from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis for the period between 1980 and 2010. March and September were considered, which are representative of the rainy and dry (or less rainy) periods, respectively. The Brazilian northern and northeastern coast is composed by meridionally oriented coastlines (Amapa State coast and eastern coast of Northeast Brazil) and a zonally oriented coastline (Brazilian northern coast east of Marajo Island). Along the meridionally oriented coastlines, the breeze potential was mainly related to the zonal wind and extended inland over 1 – 2° from the shore. The daily zonal wind cycle maximum (minimum), which represents the land (sea) breeze potential, occurred at ~0700 UTC (~1900 UTC). Along the zonally oriented coastline, the breeze potential was mainly related to the meridional wind and extended inland and offshore over 2–3° from the shore. At the shore, the daily meridional wind cycle maximum (minimum), which represents the land (sea) breeze potential, occurred at ~1000 UTC (~2200 UTC). Phase propagation occurred from the shore inland in March and September and also offshore in September. In general, for the entire Brazilian northern and northeastern coast, the breeze potential frequency was higher in September (20 – 25 days per month). In March, while the frequency slightly decreased over the meridionally oriented coastlines (to 15 – 20 days per month),the frequency sharply decreased over the zonally oriented coastlines to 5 – 10 days per month in landside coastal areas and vanished in seaside coastal areas. Higher frequency was generally related to lower interannual variability, and there was significant correlation between the interannual variability of the frequency and oceanic indices, along specific coastal areas. The features of the breeze potential areas obtained in this study complement the results from others and provide a more complete depiction of breeze features along the entire Brazilian northern and northeastern coast.

Highlights

In coastal regions, breeze is an important and widely studied phenomenon (Simpson 1994; Miller et al 2003)
Areas with Breeze Potential For September, the breeze potential is generally found in the zonal wind over the meridionally-oriented coastlines (Fig. 3a), and in the meridional wind over the zonally-oriented coastline (Fig. 3b)
The breeze potential is not restricted to coastal areas and can extend far inland

Summary

Introduction

Breeze is an important and widely studied phenomenon (Simpson 1994; Miller et al 2003). It generally consists of land-sea breezes, over areas near the coastline, and includes mountain-valley breezes over the transition between coastal and inland elevated areas and lake/ river breezes over water bodies (such as bays and river mouths) at landside coastal regions. The intensity of land-sea breezes is affected by the large scale circulation (Estoque 1962; Laird et al 2001) and regional factors, such as land use (Miao et al 2003; Kala et al 2010) and coastline shape (McPherson 1970; Baker et al 2001). The BNNE coast consists of the Amapá State and eastern coasts, which are meridionally-oriented coastlines, as well as the northern coast, which is a zonally-oriented coastline (Fig. 1b)

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Conclusion