Identification

Title

The Cape Canaveral sea and river breezes: Kinematic structure and convective initiation

Abstract

This study examines complex flow patterns associated with the Cape Canaveral sea breeze and sea-breeze front using dual-Doppler radar, sounding, and surface data collected on 26 July 1991 during the Convection and Precipitation/Electrification Experiment. This case focuses on (a) the structure of the sea breeze, an associated trailing convergence line, river-induced convergence zones, and thunderstorm outflow boundaries, and (b) the development of convection where these features interacted. Variations in the direction of the sea breeze in the vicinity of irregular coastlines, such as Cape Canaveral, can lead to persistent zones of convergence within the sea-breeze air. The findings show that these zones of convergence, in turn, can locally increase the depth of the sea-breeze air and create circulations at the top of the sea breeze, which can support the development of convection. The observational study is the first to document the development and evolution of the trailing convergence line over Cape Canaveral and show that its presence can be instrumental in thunderstorm initiation. Small inland water bodies, such as the Indian River, can have a strong influence on the location where thunderstorms first develop as the sea breeze propagates inland. Divergence over the small, relatively cooler Indian River during daytime was sufficient to maintain a quasi-stationary convergence zone that, when approached and disrupted by the sea-breeze front, triggered thunderstorms. The intersection point between the sea-breeze front and the river-induced convergence zone identified the location where successive thunderstorms developed during the day.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7542njv

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

1995-10-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

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Use constraints

Copyright 1995 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact