The climatology of the Delaware Bay/Sea Breeze

Date
2011
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University of Delaware
Abstract
The sea-breeze circulation is a coastal phenomenon that is of great importance to the Delaware community. The sea breeze is a mesoscale occurrence that is driven by the temperature difference of air over the land and the sea. A sea breeze front can cause drastic changes in wind direction, wind speed, and temperature which can have a significant effect on tourism, pollution, coastal ocean currents, and wind power potential. The wind climatology over Delaware and its corresponding coastal regions is investigated using meteorological stations and output from the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF). Significant summertime diurnal variations are found between coastal and inland areas in both observed and modeled data. Additional climatological wind variations are observed between stations over the Delaware Bay (BRND1) and nearby open ocean (Buoy #44009). The climatology of the Delaware Bay/Sea Breeze is investigated using radar data, synoptic maps, meteorological stations, and WRF. Three sea breeze classifications are designated based on changes in dew point, temperature, and wind magnitude. A sea breeze detection algorithm was created which searches for classic sea breeze days with large temperature drops and estimates their time of occurrence. The large concentration of stations per area, along with radar animations, provides insight over the propagation shape of the sea breeze front. From this, it is shown that both the Delaware Bay Breeze and the Delaware Sea Breeze can act separately depending on varying synoptic conditions. A predictive algorithm was developed at a coastal station in Bethany Beach, DE that predicts the likelihood of a sea breeze based on conditions at 8 AM (EST). WRF has been employed to study the detailed structure of the sea breeze over land as well as over the bay and ocean where meteorological data is sparse. It is shown that the sea breeze circulation is a complicated phenomenon that occurs throughout the region and significantly impacts the summertime temperature and wind climatology of coastal Delaware.
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