Sea-Breeze Circulations over Cape York Peninsula and the Generation of Gulf of Carpentaria Cloud Line Disturbances

Abstract

Abstract A numerical study of sea-breeze circulations over Cape York Peninsula in northern Australia is presented. Simulations using a two-dimensional version of the University of Virginia mesoscale model provide insight into the thermally induced circulations over the peninsula during the “dry” season under typical conditions of a prevailing easterly geostrophic flow. Calculations are performed for a wide southern cross section of the peninsula (400 km of land) and a narrow northern section (200 km of land), with terrain appropriate to these cross sections included. A southern section simulation without topography is discussed for comparison. Particular interest is focused on the collision of the east and west coast sea breezes. The possibility is explored that the double sea-breeze convergence may act as a trigger, not only for morning glory cloud line disturbances in the southern Gulf, but also for the so-called North Australian Cloud Line (NACL). The latter is a line of convective cloud which forms fr...