Linear Theory Calculations for the Sea Breeze in a Background Wind: The Equatorial Case uri icon

abstract

  • AbstractThe equatorial coastal circulation is modeled in terms of the linear wave response to a diurnally oscillating heat source gradient in a background wind. A diurnal scaling shows that the solution depends on two parameters: a nondimensional coastal width and a nondimensional wind speed . The solutions are interpreted by comparing to the = 0 theory of Rotunno.For 0 the Fourier integral solution consists of three distinct wave branches. Two of these branches correspond to the prior no-wind solution of Rotunno, except with Doppler shifting and associated wave dispersion. The third branch exists only for 0 and is shown to be broadly similar to flow past a steady heat source or a topographic obstacle. The relative importance of this third branch is determined largely by the parameter combination /. For sufficiently large / the third branch becomes the dominant part of the solution.The spatial structures of the three branches are described in terms of group velocity arguments combined with a desingularized quadrature method.

published proceedings

  • JOURNAL OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES

author list (cited authors)

  • Qian, T., Epifanio, C. C., & Zhang, F.

citation count

  • 34

complete list of authors

  • Qian, Tingting||Epifanio, Craig C||Zhang, Fuqing

publication date

  • June 2009