On the Linear Theory of the Land and Sea Breeze

Abstract

Given that the earth's atmosphere may be idealized as a rotating, stratified fluid characterized by the Coriolis parameter f and the Brunt?V?is?l? frequency N, and that the diurnal cycle of heating and cooling of the land relative to the sea acts as a stationary, oscillatory source of energy of frequency ? (=2π day?1), it follows from the linear theory of motion that where f > ? the atmospheric response is confined to within a distance Nh(f?2 ? ? ?2)?1/2 of the coastline, where h is the vertical scale of the heating. When f < ?, the atmospheric response is in the form of internal-inertial waves which extend to ?Infinity? along ray paths extending upward and outward from the coast. Near the ground, the horizontal extent of the sea breeze is given by the horizontal wale of the dominant wave mode, Nh(?2 ? f?2)?1/2. Although these concepts are familiar from the linear theory of motion in a rotating, stratified fluid, their relevance with respect to the interpretation of linear models of the land and sea breeze has not been emphasized in the literature. Hence, a critical historical review of extant linear models of the land and sea breeze is presented, and from these varied linear models, a simple model. which allows the above-described conclusions to be reached, is decocted.