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Study of the thermal internal boundary layer during sea-breeze events in the complex coastal area of Marseille

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Abstract

A revisit of two sea-breeze episodes is presented, based on higher spatial resolution large eddy simulations (LES) of the lower atmosphere over the coastal area of Marseille and measurements obtained during the June 2001 experimental campaign UBL-ESCOMPTE. The focus is on the development of thermal internal boundary layers (TIBL) over a complex topography: the dynamic and thermal mechanisms that contribute to the TIBL growth and its further degeneration into a convective mixed layer, the respective influences of the coast shape, the large-scale flow above and the local low-level slope flows. The high-resolution LES permits exploring the potential temperature and turbulent kinetic energy fields in relation with the evolution of TIBL depth and heat fluxes along representative streamlines. Several theoretical TIBL depth models are further compared to the LES-deduced inversion height and other parameters, leading to a discussion of the relationships between the values of these parameters, the respective influences of the governing physical phenomena, and the TIBL behaviour. A threshold value of 0.35 is proposed for the friction velocity to convective velocity scale ratio u */w * between the two regimes where the TIBL is either dominated by dynamical kinetic energy production or controlled by buoyancy.

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Acknowledgments

We want to thank Sylvie Cautenet and Seyed Mohammad Taghavi (LAMP, Clermont) for the regional scale simulations with RAMS, Jean-Michel Rosant (LHEEA, ECN) for his help with the experimental data, and Alexander van Eijk for improving our typescript. The experimental campaign UBL-ESCOMPTE was funded by the national institute of sciences of the universe (INSU) of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) within programmes PATOM, PNTS and PNCA. Our numerical studies also benefited from the PRIMEQUAL-PREDIT (Projet R2 - CV 04000007 coordinated by F. Saïd) jointly funded by the CNRS and Ministry in charge of Environment. Some computer resources were provided by the Centre Informatique National de l’Enseignement Supérieur (CINES). Trade names and companies are given for the benefit of the reader and do not imply any endorsement of the product or company by the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LUNAM Université, Ecole Centrale de Nantes, LHEEA UMR CNRS 6598, 44321, Nantes, France

    Isabelle Calmet

  2. LUNAM Université, Institut de Recherche en Sciences et Techniques de la Ville, IRSTV FR CNRS 2488, Nantes, France

    Isabelle Calmet & Patrice Mestayer

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  1. Isabelle Calmet
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  2. Patrice Mestayer
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Correspondence to Isabelle Calmet.

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Calmet, I., Mestayer, P. Study of the thermal internal boundary layer during sea-breeze events in the complex coastal area of Marseille. Theor Appl Climatol 123, 801–826 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1394-1

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