Factors Influencing the Structures of the Monterey Bay Sea Breeze
Factors Influencing the Structures of the Monterey Bay Sea Breeze

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 61

ISBN-13:

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The Monterey Bay sea breeze varies because of the influence of features such as inversions, clouds, synopticscale flow, and topography. The sea breeze is important because it impacts fire weather, air pollution, agriculture, and aviation operations, among other things. Analyses are conducted using a multi-quadric based program, which incorporates aircraft data, surface observations, and profiler data, to investigate the Monterey Bay sea breeze during 01-31 August 2003. Factors including inversions, cloud cover, amount of heating, distribution of heating, synoptic-scale flow, and topography are studied to determine their influence on the sea breeze. Six days are selected that best illustrate the factors that influence the structure of the Monterey Bay sea breeze. Results show that offs hore flow weakened the strength of the sea breeze and decreased the depth. A cooling trend in surface temperatures at the end of August also weakened the strength of the sea breezes and decreased the depth. Clouds are present during this period, which influenced the amount of heating, and consequently, the sea breeze response. The presence of a marine layer weakened the thermal gradient that in turn, weakened the sea breeze circulation.

Factors Influencing the Structure of the Monterey Bay Sea Breeze
Factors Influencing the Structure of the Monterey Bay Sea Breeze

Author: Emily M. Duvall

Publisher:

Published: 2004-03-01

Total Pages: 77

ISBN-13: 9781423514848

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The sea breeze is a thermally induced circulation that arises along essentially every coastline. However, the Monterey Bay circulation associated with the sea breeze varies day to day because of the influence of features such as inversions, clouds, synoptic-scale flow, and topography. Understanding the sea breeze is important because it impacts fire weather, air pollution, agriculture, and aviation operations, among other things. Analyses are conducted using a multi-quadric based program to investigate the Monterey Bay sea breeze during 01-31 August 2003. This program incorporates aircraft data, surface observations, and profiler data. Outputs from the analysis program are plotted in VISUAL to characterize the structure of the sea breeze. Factors including inversions, cloud cover, amount of heating, distribution of heating, synoptic- scale flow, and topography are studied to determine their influence on the sea breeze. Six days are presented in this thesis that best illustrate the factors that influence the structure of the Monterey Bay sea breeze. Results show that offshore flow weakened the strength of the sea breeze and decreased the depth, as expected. A cooling trend in surface temperatures at the end of the month also weakened the strength of the sea breezes and decreased the depth. Clouds are present during this period, which influenced the amount of heating, and consequently, the sea breeze response. The presence of a marine layer weakened the thermal gradient that in turn, weakened the sea breeze circulation.

Synoptic-scale Influence on the Monterey Bay Sea-breeze
Synoptic-scale Influence on the Monterey Bay Sea-breeze

Author: Michael Charles Knapp

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13:

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The diurnal fluctuations of the surface ambient wind associated with the sea-breeze are analyzed for the period May 01 through September 30, 1993 from a single station, Monterey airport, located on the southern Monterey Bay coast. Data analyzed included time series of wind speed, wind direction, clouds, precipitation and locally generated 3 hourly surface pressure analyses of California and the Pacific northwest. The characteristics of the sea-breeze circulation under varying synoptic-scale patterns are evaluated to determine the modifying roles of boundary layer stability, surface inversion strength, and low-level cloud amount on the resultant time of onset and peak intensity of the Monterey Bay sea-breeze. The primary modifying factor under all synoptic-scale pressure patterns was the boundary layer depth and stability with the differential heating taking longer to destabilize the boundary layer during the Trough regime.

Climatology and Analysis of the Monterey Bay Sea Breeze
Climatology and Analysis of the Monterey Bay Sea Breeze

Author: Robert D. Round

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13:

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Sea breeze events on the Monterey Bay are examined from a single station at the mouth of the Salinas Valley. Data analyzed are continuous, two- minute meteorological samples of windspeed, wind direction, temperature, dew point, incoming shortwave irradiance, and incoming longwave irradiance. A speed index is defined using the average hourly maximum and minimum windspeeds oriented in the cross-shore direction thereby reflecting the thermally induced diurnal windspeed enhancement. Large-scale effects on this mesoscale circulation are presented through evaluation of changes in boundary layer depth with changes in speed index. Changes in boundary layer depth as reflected in trends of inland stratus penetration and offshore flow provide insight for anticipating sea breeze intensity.

Evolution of Diurnal Surface Winds and Surface Currents for Monterey Bay
Evolution of Diurnal Surface Winds and Surface Currents for Monterey Bay

Author: Michael D. Foster

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13:

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The diurnal-period fluctuations of winds and surface currents are analyzed for September 1992 in and around Monterey Bay. Wind records are compared for three coastal stations and two mooring sites. Remotely-sensed surface current observations from two CODAR (HF radar) sites are used to explore the ocean's response to diurnal-period forcing. An average diurnal cycle is formed at each wind station and at all CODAR bins. The earliest sea breeze response is seen at the coastal wind stations where morning winds accelerate toward the coastal mountain ranges. A few hours later, the coastal winds accelerate to the southeast down the Salinas Valley. Offshore afternoon winds rotate from their normal alongshore orientation to also become aligned with the valley. The CODAR-derived surface currents respond in less than the two-hour sampling rate to the onset of the diurnal onshore winds. Currents accelerate in the direction of the Salinas Valley. As the day progresses, the more offshore currents rotate clockwise out from under the winds in a possible Ekman or inertial adjustment that continues throughout the night and spreads onshore. In the afternoon, a complicated eddy pattern develops near shore in a possible response to the coastal boundary.

A Case Study of the Monterey Bay Sea Breeze on 25 August 1997
A Case Study of the Monterey Bay Sea Breeze on 25 August 1997

Author: Steven M. Taylor

Publisher:

Published: 1998-09-01

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 9781423556343

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On 25 August a controlled burn on the former Fort Ord property raged out of control. The sea breeze was responsible for transporting the acrid smoke into the Salinas Valley. The PSUINCAR mesoscale model, MMS, was run at 4 km grid resolution twice using two different PBL schemes (MRF and Burk-Thompson) and then verified by observations from several local mesoscale networks, including wind profiler data. The MM5 simulation was able to depict the 3-D structure of the sea breeze and differentiate between the local mountain- valley forcing and the large-scale sea breeze forcing. These two individual forcing mechanisms were responsible for an observed double surge in the time series of winds at Fort Ord. Further investigation is needed into the surface parameterization/land use tables to improve the surface forcing.

Characterization of Tidal Currents in Monterey Bay from Remote and In-situ Measurements
Characterization of Tidal Currents in Monterey Bay from Remote and In-situ Measurements

Author: Emil T. Petruncio

Publisher:

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13:

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A first order description of tidal heights and currents in Monterey Bay is provided. Analysis of sea level records indicate that a mixed, predominantly semidiurnal tide nearly co-oscillates within the bay. Analysis of month-long moored ADCP records obtained in the winter and summer of 1992 reveals that tidal-band currents account for approximately 50 percent of the total current variance in the upper ocean (20-200 m). A relatively strong (7 cm/s) fortnightly tide (MSf) is present in both seasons. Considerable rotation of the semidiurnal ellipse orientations occurs with depth during both seasons. A month- long record of surface current measurements obtained with CODAR, an HF radar system, during September 1992 reveals that the Monterey Submarine Canyon clearly influences the strength and direction of semidiurnal (M2) tidal currents. Good agreement exists between the strength and orientation of ADCP- and CODAR-derived tidal ellipses, with the exception of the constituent K1. Large, spatially uniform K1 surface currents (20-30 cm/s) appear to be the result of diurnal sea breeze forcing.