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In the present study, the physical parameterizations of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are verified for making accurate inferences about the dynamics of the Thermal Internal Boundary Layer (TIBL) generated by sea breeze in an urban center with an island in a bay along a coastal region with rugged topography. The simulations were p...
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... Mesoscale systems also influence the region, such as the comma cloud, instability lines, and mesoscale convective systems (Dereczynski and Menezes 2017). Near the coast, the land-sea contrast induces the formation of mesoscale phenomena such as the land-sea breeze circulations (Franchito et al. 2008;Dragaud et al. 2019) and the thermal internal boundary layer (Salvador et al. 2016). The diurnal cycle of the wind is associated with the land-sea breeze occurrence, with weaker winds at night and stronger in the afternoon (Franchito et al. 2008;Correia Filho et al. 2021), and stronger sea breezes during austral spring and summer (Franchito et al. 2008). ...
In the context of the energy transition, the Campos Basin region is one of the most important and strategic areas in Brazil, given its relevance in oil and gas production, great wind resources, and proximity to the most populous region in the country. In this context the performance of a Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) operational system based on the Weather Research and Forecasting model was evaluated, in addition to an investigation of the influence of physiographic aspects and meteorological systems on the near-surface wind regime. The numerical results of wind were evaluated in comparison to 1 year of observational data at onshore and offshore meteorological stations. Despite the well-known spin-up problem of NWP models, the best results were obtained in the first 24 h. Consequently, the spin-up was less significant for model performance than the deviation from the initial conditions. Overall, the best results were obtained for the offshore rather than onshore region. The model was more assertive for the most frequent wind speed classes and had a worse performance for the extreme classes, overestimating the weakest winds and underestimating the strongest winds. A counterclockwise directional bias was also found overall, indicating overestimation (underestimation) of synoptic (local) forcing. From a seasonal perspective, the best results were obtained for the winter period, characterized by the greater influence of the South Atlantic Subtropical Anticyclone. The onshore winds revealed a pattern of clockwise rotation as one moves towards higher latitudes. One hypothesis is that this pattern is a consequence of the synergistic influence of orography, coastline shape, land-sea drag difference, and air-sea interaction phenomena. Finally, this study indicates that the NWP system is promising, proving to be an important tool for managing activities related to the current oil and gas industry in addition to subsidizing the expansion of wind energy exploration.
... On a local scale, when there are no significant synoptic events, the daily weather patterns are affected by the sea breeze, as the MRV is located on the coastline. This results in an active sea breeze during the late morning and afternoon (from 11 am to 3 pm local time), while the continental breeze becomes prominent in the early evening until early morning (from 7 pm to 8 am) (Salvador et al. 2016). ...
... Under this assumption, cold air moving inland from the ocean can modify the rhythm of the temperature change (Dandou, Tombrou, and Soulakellis 2009;Kong et al. 2021;Miller et al. 2003;Peng and Watanabe 2022). Salvador et al. (2016) showed the regular occurrence of sea breeze between 11 am and 1 pm, being the strongest breezes in winter, which limits the maximum daytime temperature in the MRV. In Figure 3a, we observe that the highest average temperature values correspond to the period between 11 am and 1 pm, represented by the red line (Cariacica) and black line (Carapina) stations. ...
... Yet the of local circulation and behavior of the UHI, it's worth noting that the peak intensity occurs between 7 AM and 1 PM. Typically, between 11 AM and 3 PM is the period of the sea breeze's influence (Salvador et al. 2016) in the studied area. At this moment, there is a noticeable reduction in the UHI's intensity. ...
This study explores the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon in the Metropolitan Region of Vitória (MRV), Brazil. Two methods were employed: the traditional approach estimating the Atmospheric Urban Heat Island (UHI) using air temperature data, and the quantiles method assessing the Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) through medium spatial resolution images. The findings demonstrate the existence of an average heat island effect, as estimated by both UHI (+0.9 °C) and SUHI (+2.03 °C). The intensity of the atmospheric UHI is linked with higher air temperature values around midday. Additionally, the study reveals that UHI values in the MRV are more pronounced during spring and summer SUHI estimates peak during the summer months. The utilization of orbital remote sensing enables the identification of hotspots throughout the metropolitan area, with the highest temperatures observed in industrial areas, suburban neighborhoods, and densely populated regions. The advantage of the UHI method lies in its long time series, providing high temporal resolution and statistical significance over an extended period. Conversely, the SUHI method offers the advantage of considering data across the entire domain with high spatial resolution. Thus, these two methods complement each other in identifying the heat island phenomenon.
... Along coastal regions, the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) has a different internal behavior, due to the thermal differential between sea and land, daily variations that can significantly alter local circulation. Thus, the dynamics of the Inner Thermal Boundary Layer (TBL), which is formed by the sea breeze, has been studied by several researchers, including [2-9] [11] [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. However, short-term events such as TBL are difficult to detect and their PBL investigation is very important in atmospheric studies, their influence on the local PBL can affect the dispersion of pollutants, mathematical models are evaluated to make predictions about these circulations, mainly studies on the influence of pollutants according to [19,20]. ...
... Thus, the dynamics of the Inner Thermal Boundary Layer (TBL), which is formed by the sea breeze, has been studied by several researchers, including [2-9] [11] [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. However, short-term events such as TBL are difficult to detect and their PBL investigation is very important in atmospheric studies, their influence on the local PBL can affect the dispersion of pollutants, mathematical models are evaluated to make predictions about these circulations, mainly studies on the influence of pollutants according to [19,20]. ...
... The main objective of this initial study is to evaluate the performance of a physical parameterization of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model for the behavior of the PBL proposed by [19,20], which may influence studies that examine the effects of pollutants in the vicinity of the Metropolitan Region of Salvador (RMS) in the state of Bahia, Brazil. ...
... A maior intensidade da ICU em latitudes tropicais é registrada durante a primavera e verão, entre os horários de 10 h e 16 h (ARNFIELD, 2003;CALLEJAS et al., 2016;FREITAS;DIAS, 2005; RAJAGOPALAN; LIM; JAMEI, 2014) período de maior disponibilidade térmica no ambiente. Em locais onde o relevo é acentuado, a interferência da topografia, com vento catabático e aquecimento adiabático, pode contribuir para o aumento da temperatura média do ar sobre a região urbana e, consequentemente, para o maior desenvolvimento vertical da camada de mistura (FREITAS et al., 2007;SALVADOR et al., 2016). Nos períodos noturnos, em áreas tropicais, a intensidade da ilha de calor pode eventualmente apresentar valores negativos (ROTH, 2007). ...
... Estudos como os de Adebayo (1991) e Bulut et al. (2008) consideram que a temperatura do ar em aeroportos comporta-se de forma semelhante à de área rural, devido à menor obstrução, à área ser aberta, maior velocidade de vento, condições que contribuem para a menor amplitude térmica em relação às áreas urbanas. Neste estudo, foram observadas características de uso do solo na estação Aeroporto (Figura 2) semelhantes aos usos relatados nos estudos de Adebayo (1991) e Bulut et al. (2008), além disto, de acordo com Salvador et al. (2016), os maiores valores de velocidade do vento são registrados no período da tarde, em toda a RMGV. Portanto, os fatores acima contribuem para que, na estação Aeroporto, a amplitude térmica seja mais próxima da observada em Vila Velha. ...
Metropolitan Region Vitória (MRV), located in Brazil, in the Espírito Santo state, is a relevant local to discuss Urban Heat Island (UHI) due to its tropical climate. In this study, the heat island in MRV was evaluated between March 2017 and January 2018 period. The hourly database of air temperature used in analyzis and discussion was obtained from five weather stations of INMET, IEMA and INFRAERO. Results show the heat island formation all over the evaluated period. Hourly intensities of UHI for MRV have frequency distribution close to Gaussian with the highest interval occurrence (~ 50%) between 0 °C and 2 °C; 91.4% of UHI values to MRV are between 0 °C and 4 °C, indicating the highest occurrence of weak and moderate intensities, 0.3% of the period have strong (4 -6 °C) and very strong (6 -8 °C) UHI.In this study, it was possible to verify that UHI events at MRV are higher over the day hours than in the night, and, during spring and summer seasons, being associated with high environment thermal charge at both hourly and season scale. The study area shows cool island events in 8.3% of the cases that happened when the rural area was warmer than the urban sites. The higher frequency of cool island event was observed between 7 and 9 am, in January and July; they were always associated with cloudiness atmospheric systems, provided bythe action of cold front, ZCOU and ZCAS episodes.
... The results show changes in the wind direction that suggest the occurrence of sea and land breezes with wind shifts towards the land in hours with greater solar radiation and towards the sea in the night hours. This is in agreement with what has been expressed by several authors (Simpson, 1994;Gustavsson, Lindvqvist, Borne and Bogren, 1995;Salvador et al., 2016). The differences between the air temperature over the sea and over land are shown in Figure 6. ...
Determining the wind fields associated with sea breezes is essential for assessing oceanic-atmospheric processes in coastal areas, such as the transport of pollutants and the generation of wind-sea waves. With this information, it is possible to quantify the produced effects from the continent in the sea and understand the coastal erosion processes during the day. It is important to emphasize that in the coastal part of the Gulf of Urabá, there is frequent disposal of pesticides spread from small planes and that the east coast of the gulf presents accelerated coastal erosion processes. In the present work, the characterization of the diurnal cycle of sea breezes on the coasts of the Gulf of Urabá was carried out using the results of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. To this purpose, wind and temperature fields were analyzed for January and February from 2008 to 2013. Wind values at various levels of the vertical and surface wind fields were compared with in situ information. It was found that the breeze system begins its movement from sea to land between 07:00 and 10:00 local time (LT) and reverses between 13:00 and 16:00LT. Evidence of the change of direction is the surface temperature values which were positively correlated with the wind. As future work, the WRF model is expected to be implemented for recent years to carry out an adequate calibration/validation process using climatic stations that have been installed lately.
... MRV has 1.7 million people and covers 1,447 km 2 with moderate complex terrain and meteorological conditions. Elevation changes from sea level at East to mountain ranges (900m) at the west, with mesoscale events such as sea/land breeze occurring day/night, as described by Salvador et al. (2016). The most significant anthropogenic sources of atmospheric pollutants are steel and pelletizing industries, and traffic, as shown by multiple source apportionment studies Galvão et al. 2018Galvão et al. , 2019Galvão et al. , 2020aGalvão et al. ,2020bde Ferreyro Monticelli et al. 2020). ...
Epidemiological studies use direct and indirect methods to estimate exposure to air pollutants. In this paper, we compared the exposure to NO2 given by dispersion modeling and a fixed monitoring station and personal monitors during the daily routine of twenty-one children. Indoor-outdoor (I/O) ratios were used to represent differences between indoor and outdoor environments. A sensitivity test was performed to assess the impact of this parameter. Questionnaires were used to obtain subjects’ routines during campaigns. The results obtained using dispersion models agree with the individual differences in exposure assessed by personal monitors — if compared to a method relying solely on the monitoring station. Nevertheless, an overestimation occurred for children living near roadways. The exposure results revealed higher sensitivity to I/O ratios used than to children’s pathways between their usual destinations. The time spent outdoors (or indoors) and the concentration variation at the urban microscale (< 2 km) were the relevant aspects of exposure. For instance, the proximity of receptors (home and schools) to major roads and the position of these sources to receptors considering wind regime were key factors. In conclusion, indirect methods — preferably dispersion model — were able to address children’s exposure to NO2 if compared to personal monitors.
Graphical abstract
... The choice of the YSU boundary layer scheme is twofold. First, several studies have investigated the impact of planetary boundary layer (PBL) parameterizations on simulations of water-to-land breezes and have generally concluded that there is no single, superior one-dimensional PBL scheme for simulating this phenomenon (Miao et al. 2009;Crosman and Horel 2010;Salvador et al. 2016;Zhang et al. 2019). Zhang et al. (2019) found that only a large-eddy simulation of a lake breeze was able to improve results over several mesoscale simulations with one-dimensional PBL schemes. ...
... Zhang et al. (2019) found that only a large-eddy simulation of a lake breeze was able to improve results over several mesoscale simulations with one-dimensional PBL schemes. Second, of the numerous PBL schemes available within the WRF Model, YSU has been shown to perform reasonably well in seabreeze simulations (Salvador et al. 2016) and is relatively simple in comparison with other available options. ...
... Physics parameterizations}specifically the PBL param-eterization}might very well be a source of poor performance. Several studies have investigated the sensitivity to the PBL scheme in water-to-land breeze simulations and have generally found that all current PBL schemes underperform (Srinivas et al. 2007;Miao et al. 2009;Salvador et al. 2016;Zhang et al. 2019). Reen et al. (2009) showed that in an idealized setup, the vertical momentum flux is underpredicted in a mesoscale WRF simulation [relative to a large-eddy simulation (LES)], pointing to a deficiency in the PBL scheme. ...
A novel algorithm is developed for detecting and classifying the Chesapeake Bay breeze and similar water-body breezes in output from mesoscale numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. To assess the generality of the new model-based detection algorithm (MBDA), it is tested on simulations from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model and on analyses and forecasts from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model. The MBDA outperforms three observation-based detection algorithms (OBDAs) when applied to the same model output. In addition, by defining the onshore wind directions on the basis of model land-use data and not on the actual geography of the region of interest, performance of the OBDAs with model output can be improved. Although simulations by the WRF Model were used to develop the new MBDA, it performed best when applied to HRRR analyses. The generality of the MBDA is promising, and additional tuning of its parameters might improve it further.
... Thus, the sea breeze circulation exerts significant impacts on local weather and meteorological conditions through inland transport of moist and cool air, often bringing about development of coastal thunderstorms [3]. Moreover, it plays a critical role in dispersion of low-level atmospheric pollutants by changing low-level winds and boundary layer structures [4,5]. Therefore, precise forecast of the sea breeze circulation is crucial because it affects air temperature, humidity, precipitation, and air quality in coastal regions. ...
... Impact of three land surface models (LSMs), coupled to WRF, in simulating the sea breeze circulation was also investigated, showing the most realistic simulations by the Noah LSM with multiple parameterization options (Noah-MP), followed by the Noah LSM and the 5-layer soil thermal diffusion scheme [17]. Other studies examined the combined effect of the PBL schemes and LSMs on the thermal internal boundary layer formed under sea-breeze conditions [5,18] and showed that better performance was evident for different sets of PBL and LSM schemes for different coastal environments. Various WRF physical parameterizations, including the cumulus, microphysics, and PBL schemes, had been also assessed in simulating sea breeze and their associated convective events over Florida [19], which showed diversified results in the intensity and duration of precipitation as well as the location and duration of the sea breeze events. ...
... Numerical simulations of sea breezes rely on the subgrid-scale physical processes of the given model, including the PBL, land surface, radiation physics, etc. [5,[15][16][17][18]. They significantly affect the sea breeze circulation through the interaction between the sea/land surface and the lower atmosphere. ...
This study aims to improve the performance of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model in the sea breeze circulation using the micro-Genetic Algorithm (micro-GA). We found the optimal combination of four physical parameterization schemes related to the sea breeze system, including planetary boundary layer (PBL), land surface, shortwave radiation, and longwave radiation, in the WRF model coupled with the micro-GA (WRF-μGA system). The optimization was performed with respect to surface meteorological variables (2 m temperature, 2 m relative humidity, 10 m wind speed and direction) and a vertical wind profile (wind speed and direction), simultaneously for three sea breeze cases over the northeastern coast of South Korea. The optimized set of parameterization schemes out of the WRF-μGA system includes the Mellor–Yamada–Nakanishi–Niino level-2.5 (MYNN2) for PBL, the Noah land surface model with multiple parameterization options (Noah-MP) for land surface, and the Rapid Radiative Transfer Model for GCMs (RRTMG) for both shortwave and longwave radiation. The optimized set compared with the various other sets of parameterization schemes for the sea breeze circulations showed up to 29 % for the improvement ratio in terms of the normalized RMSE considering all meteorological variables.
... This lack of accurate land surface data in the Southern Hemisphere limits the accuracy of various meteorological research applications in South America (Nedbor-Gross et al., 2017;Pedruzzi et al., 2019;Salvador et al., 2016). For example, Nedbor-Gross et al. (2018) highlighted the necessity of update the land surface data on simulations over Bogotá, Colombia, to capture the singularities in the topography, LULC, and soil over the area, which was not well described by the Default land surface data. ...
... Several studies were performed using WRF over South America, especially Brazil Andrade et al., 2015;Andreão et al., 2020;Macedo et al., 2016;Pedruzzi et al., 2019;Rafee et al., 2015;Ribeiro et al., 2018;Salvador et al., 2016;Tuchtenhagen et al., 2020). These studies have typically focused on selecting and calibrating WRF's physical parameterizations to achieve adequate model performance rather than improving WRF's land surface data. ...
Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) and soil texture play a key role in meteorological models because they determine the vegetation and soil proprieties that interfere in the exchange of energy, moisture, and momentum between the land surface and the atmosphere. Additionally, LULC and soil texture are relevant input datasets in meteorological models affecting their results and future applicability as in weather researches and air quality modeling. Brazil has a complex and heterogeneous LU, and it has faced significant LULC changes in the past years. Therefore, this paper aims to update the LULC, using the national product MapBiomas, and soil texture data, by SoilGrids, to replace the default input data in the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model for São Paulo, Brazil. Aiming to evaluate the impact of those input data on WRF simulations, five cases were simulated using WRF v4.1.3 with 1 km of grid resolution, and combinations of “Default” and “Updated” input data. Sixty-days simulations from March 15th to May 15th of 2015, covering the transition of wet to dry season, were performed and evaluated with observational data over São Paulo State. The results showed significant differences in the classifications of LULC and soil texture in the entire domain between the default and updated data. The updated data is more realistic and coherent with local characteristics, being more representative, as an example over Santos city area being correctly classified as urban and built-in updated LULC and not water, as in the default. The comparison between the modeled results with observations data has shown a similar behavior for temperature and humidity for the five cases at the monitoring stations grid cells because the LULC changes were between classes with similar land parameters, such as albedo, roughness length, and soils moisture, although the Default classes are not accurate. However, the latent and sensible heat fluxes were ways more sensitive to the LULC/soil texture changes in the WRF model. Additionally, reasonable differences were observed over the entire modeling domain for these two variables. The updated land surface data provoked low temperatures at 9h and 17h UTC, less humidity at 9h UTC, and more humidity at 17h UTC, especially in the north part of the modeling domain, the area which has faced more LULC and soil changes. The PBL height was also affected by the updated data, probably caused by the impact at heat flux over the domain, causing a variation from 30% to 70% over the modeled grid cell, which may have a higher impact on air quality modeling. Thus, it is recommended to update the land surface data for Brazil to avoid misclassification of LULC and soil texture, even if the comparison at monitoring stations has shown similar behavior between the default and updated land surface data. Additionally, updates in the land parameter inside the model are required to represent each LULC/soil class better.
... Nevertheless, in most regions, the radiosondes are launched only twice a day, which does not provide a detailed observation of the ABLH behavior. In this scenario, due to the lidar systems' high temporal and spatial resolution, the utilization of this kind of equipment to estimate the ABLH and other ABL properties had increased significantly in the last decade, mainly in South America [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. ...
... Also, based on WCT, Niesperuza et al. estimated the ABLH to Medellín (Colombia), demonstrating the influence of the selections of the parameters in the Haar Wavelet performance [33]. Salvador Forecasting Model (WRF), finding a high positive correlation during the convective period [26]. Besides, elastic lidar data can also observe aerosol plumes' movement as the mixing level in the CBL region, from the skewness and kurtosis profiles. ...
In Part II of this chapter, we intend to show the significant advances and results concerning aerosols’ tropospheric monitoring in South America. The tropospheric lidar monitoring is also supported by the Latin American Lidar Network (LALINET). It is concerned about aerosols originating from urban pollution, biomass burning, desert dust, sea spray, and other primary sources. Cloud studies and their impact on radiative transfer using tropospheric lidar measurements are also presented.
