Abstract
Abstract. This paper investigates the sensitivity of sea breeze (SB) simulations to combinations of boundary-layer turbulence and land-surface process parameterizations implemented in the MM5 mesoscale meteorological mode for an observed SB case over the Swedish west coast. Various combinations from four different planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes [Blackadar, Gayno-Seaman (GS), Eta, MRF], and two land surface model (LSM) schemes (SLAB, Noah) with different complexity are designed to simulate a typical SB case over the Swedish west coast. The simulations are conducted using two-way interactively nested grids. Simulated 10-m winds are compared against observed near-surface wind data from the GÖTE2001 campaign to examine the diurnal cycle of wind direction and speed for SB timing. The SB (vertical) circulation is also compared in the different experiments. The results show that the different combinations of PBL and LSM parameterization schemes result in different SB timing and vertical circulation characteristics. All experiments predict a delayed SB. The vertical component of the SB circulation varies in the experiments, among which the GS PBL scheme produces the strongest SB circulation. Evident differences between the SLAB and Noah LSMs are also found, especially in maximum of updraft and downdraft velocities of the SB vertical circulation. The results have significant implications for convective initiation, air quality studies and other environmental problems in coastal areas.
Highlights
Sea breeze (SB) is an important mesoscale meteorological phenomenon in coastal areas caused by a thermal difference between sea and land during the daytime
Of the above cited studies, only a few examined the impacts of planetary boundary layer (PBL) and/or land surface model (LSM) parameterization schemes on simulated SB (e.g., Srinivas et al, 2007; Zhong et al, 2007) and diurnal cycle of near-surface wind (e.g., Zhang and Zheng, 2004; Miao et al, 2008) despite the fact that SB is a prototypical mesoscale circulation and that diurnal cycle of winds has significant implications for air quality studies
As an extension and supplement to Miao et al (2008), this study focuses on the applications of MM5 mesoscale model to SB simulation, and includes one PBL scheme which was not examined there
Summary
Ritchie4,5 1Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education, and College of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, 219 Ningliu Road, Nanjing 210044, China 2Rossby Centre, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), 601 76 Norrkoping, Sweden 3Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 460, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden 4Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, NS, B3H 4J1, Canada 5Meteorological Research Division, Environment Canada, 45 Alderney Drive, Dartmouth, NS B2Y 2N6, Canada. Received: 21 October 2008 – Revised: 6 May 2009 – Accepted: 25 May 2009 – Published: 8 June 2009
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