THE FORMATION OF SEA BREEZE The New Jersey Sea Breeze and the relationship to Coastal Upwelling

OVERVIEW
The sea breeze is a well-known phenomenon which affects coastal areas primarily during the warm season. It is driven by the temperature difference between land and sea, which typically peaks during the afternoon hours with maximum diurnal heating of the land. Effects of the sea breeze include local changes in temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, cloud cover, and sometimes precipitation. These changes can be significant for operational forecasting of weather conditions for the public, as well as for more specialized users in the aviatrion and marine communities.

During the Spring and Summer months, the leading edge of the sea breeze is often observed by the National Weather Service's WSR-88D operational radar at Ft. Dix, NJ (KDIX) as a fine line of reflectivity. Typically, this line forms near the shore in early afternoon and progresses some distance inland during the rest of the day. The shape and movement of this sea breeze "front" can vary considerably from day to day, depending mainly on the degree of heating and on the synoptic scale wind patterns.

@ One less recognized factor which may be important in the daily evolution of the sea breeze is the distribution of sea surface temperature along and near the shore. During prolonged periods of southwesterly synoptic-scale flow, it is common to observe the "upwelling" of colder water from below the ocean surface. This upwelling can produce nearshore pockets of water that are 5 to 10 degree C (or more) colder than the surrounding ocean. Observational evidence, example: radar imagery, suggests that land areas of southwesterly synoptic-scale flow, it is common to observe the "upwelling" of colder water from below the ocean surface. Areas adjacent to these cold pockets of upwelling are favored for the initial development of the sea breeze, and this subsequently affects the movement and orientation of the sea breeze front. The COMET Cooperative Project looked at this interaction using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System.

What is a Seabreeze?
A seabreeze is a common phenomenon during the spring and summer months along the coastline of New Jersey . It is the sudden reversal of winds from an offshore wind to an onshore wind. It is formed due through a complex ocean-atmosphere interaction wherein the differential heating of the land and sea results in pressure and density gradients which permits frontogenesis to occur right along the shoreline. Meteorologically speaking...it is a mesoscale version of a cold front which forms at sea and slowly propagates inland.

During the spring and early summer months the temperature of the ocean off the coast of New Jeresy is still rather cold compared to the land. Due to the high heat capacity of the ocean, it will take much longer for it to warm in relation to the land. On warm spring and summer days, the land is heated by incoming solar radiation, which in turn heats up parcels of air by convection. These parcels of air will rise until it reaches a stable layer of the atmosphere a few thousand feet in altitude. Since the rising air cannot continue rising and it cannot sink, then to maintain mass continuity it must spread outward, or diverge. When the warm divergent air moves over the cooler air residing over the ocean it sinks back down to the surface of the ocean.The rising motion of the air over the land results in the formation of a weak thermal low pressure area. in contrast, the sinking motion of the air over the water results in the formation of a weak high pressure area. This difference in pressure is know as a pressure gradient. Since the pressure will try to stabilize itself, a fetch of wind will blow from the high to the low, resulting in a onshore wind, or a seabreeze.

How are Seabreezes Detected and Analyzed?

-OBSERVATIONS There are several methods in use to detect and analyze seabreezes. The first is to monitor weather observations from stations along the coast. For the case studies presented here, several weather stations along the coast were used. These stations in New Jersey include (for current weather conditions click on station name)...Tuckerton, Long Beach Island, Avalon, Atlantic City, Atlantic City International Airport (Pomona), and Wildwood. -DOPPLER RADAR Doppler Radar is the best way in which to document and analyze seabreezes. The National Weather Service has deployed a series of WSR-88 Doppler Radars throughout the United States. In our area of interest, the Doppler Radar images that will be looked at come from the radars deployed at Fort Dix, NJ (KDIX) and Dover, DE (KDOV). Doppler radar is famous for its ability to detect wind speed by utilizing the doppler shift.Doppler Radar also has the ablity to shift between two operating modes: Precipitation Mode and Clear-Air Mode. As its name states Precipitation mode is most useful in detecting the intensity of precipitation echoes. Clear-Air Mode is useful in seabreeze detection. The radar is at its most sensitive in Clear-Air Mode. It is able to detect temperature discontinuities as well as the scattering of the radar signal off birds and insects. The area of the greatest temperature discontinuity in a seabreeze event is right along the front. Also right along the frontal boundary, the onshore wind can carry birds and insects inland where they can be detected by the backscattering given off as the radar pulse is reflected off their bodies and back to the receiver.A better representation of the seabreeze front can be seen in the radar base reflectivity loop from KDIX below. The seabreeze is represented by the higher reflectivities (red line) along the NJ coast that moves inland.

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