TITLE:
The Anatomy of the South Carolina U.S.A. Coastal Sea Breeze 2019-2020
AUTHORS:
Leonard J. Pietrafesa, Shaowu Bao, Paul T. Gayes, Grant Mitchell, Savannah Burdette, Brian Viner, Stephen Noble, Jian-Hua Qian, David Werth
KEYWORDS:
Sea Breeze, Sea-Land Temperature Differences, Wind Sticks
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Geosciences,
Vol.13 No.7,
July
29,
2022
ABSTRACT: The study presented herein
is the analysis of Sodar based instrument measurements of air temperature, dew
point, and vertical wind speed and direction, recorded at two South Carolina
sites, Waties Island in North Myrtle Beach and in Sumter, and at three
atmospheric ground stations. Two of the ground stations are National Weather
Service stations near the Sodars and one is a Coastal Carolina University
Sea-Econet, as a part of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration,
MESO program, weather-sensor site on the Coastal Carolina University campus in
Conway South Carolina. Objectives of this study are to establish specific
values of winds, land and sea temperatures, precipitation and dew points associated with the changes induced by passages
of the Sea Breeze Front, and to examine differences in the station-to-station
incarnation of the Sea Breeze circulation. Variability from station to station
in the nature and timing of Sea Breeze Front passage is found to be a function
of relative proximity to the coast with Sea Breeze Front passage occurring
earliest at the North Myrtle Beach site (the station at the coast), then at
Sumter (~100 km inland) and finally Aiken at >100 km inland. Satellite based
estimates of the percentages of onshore penetration distances from the coast
are depicted. Wind vectors and air temperatures associated with onsets and
passages of the Sea Breeze display robust wind fields directed onshore
perpendicular to the coastline. Kinematical descriptors of the Sea Breeze wind
particle motions are presented and display coherent stable elliptical motions
during the late summer to early fall but are absent during the winter.