A Comparison of Three-Dimensional and Two-Dimensional Numerical Predictions of Sea Breezes

Abstract

Two-dimensional and three-dimensional sea breeze model results are compared for the same set of initial conditions and values of prescribed parameters. It is shown that with two-dimensional forcing, the two models produce identical results, but only when the explicit horizontal diffusion in the two-dimensional model is increased so as to account for resolvable scale fluxes which cannot be properly handled without including the third dimension. It is additionally demonstrated that a two-dimensional sea breeze model cannot produce accurate simulations of the sea breeze over south Florida even with added vertical resolution. The conclusion is made that for most practical simulations of the sea breeze, a full three-dimensional model is required.