Title page for ETD etd-06302011-163010

Type of Document

Thesis

Author

Moeller, Lauren Elizabeth

Author's Email Address

lem09f@fsu.edu

URN

etd-06302011-163010

Title

Low-Frequency Variations of the Sea Breeze in Florida

Degree

Master of Science

Department

Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Science, Department of

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Vasubandhu Misra	Committee Chair
James J. O'Brien	Committee Co-Chair
Henry Fuelberg	Committee Member
Mark Bourassa	Committee Member

Keywords

Bermuda High
Atlantic Warm Pool
Sverdrup Vorticity Balance
interannual variations

Date of Defense

2011-04-28

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

The variations in the sea breeze are examined both diurnally and interannually along the panhandle of Florida during the boreal summer season. A climatology of sea breeze cross sections is calculated eight times daily between the years 1979 and 2001 to examine diurnal differences. The cross sections are created using very high resolution dynamically downscaled analyses from the NCEP-DOE (R2) and the ECMWF ERA-40 for the southeast U.S. The high resolution downscaled product is validated with other independent observations to show fidelity. Results from these diurnal analyses show that the sea breeze and precipitation peak at 4:00 p.m.
The interannual variability of the sea breeze is examined with respect to the Atlantic Warm Pool (AWP). Composites consisting of Climate Prediction Center (CPC) precipitation observations are created based on the size of the AWP. These composites show that the strongest low-frequency signal is a negative anomaly along the panhandle. Therefore, model composite cross sections are primarily along the 30.5°N latitude. The cause of the negative anomaly is related to the subtropical high, which undergoes an eastward shift and a decrease in intensity for large AWP years. These changes in the subtropical high lead to a more cyclonic large-scale low-level flow for large AWP years as Sverdrup vorticity balance indicates. This study finds that this synoptic flow pattern will suppress the sea breeze circulation and lessen precipitation amounts over the panhandle region.

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