Orientation & strength of sea breezes
OK, here's a nerdy question that's been nagging at me. I think I have an idea of the answer, but wondering what those of you more knowledgeable about met think....
It's about the orientation and strength of sea breezes in various locations.
Let's say there are three cases:
1. The "classic" case, perpendicular to the coastline, where there is a gentle offshore breeze overnight and early morning and then onshore as the land warms up.
e.g. Cannes, Clacton in UK, ?Cape Town
2. Where you have same effect but more oblique to the coastline, e.g. Perth in Australia in the Summer
3. Where, despite being close to the sea, there is no obvious strong sea breeze effect. I'm thinking particularly of Bournemouth here in the UK. Equally, I presume in the tropics the trades are so strong there is little effect too?
Realise there's a seasonal aspect to this and sometimes due to the orientation of the coastline to prevailing wind direction there is an over-printing that occurs.
So, what is happening in cases 2. or 3.?
My guess is that it must have something to do with topography (e.g. role of Darling Range or even the Swan River in Perth, the presence of the Bay next to Bournemouth), but is it that right?
What goes on at places with complex coastlines like the US NE seaboard cities? How far inland can a sea breeze have an effect, especially if there's a topographic funneling effect? What happens at lakeside airports?
Last edited by betterfromabove; 20th Feb 2018 at 22:05.