Assessment of Industrial Air Pollution in a Shoreline Environment

Abstract

In a shoreline environment, the existence of local circulations, commonly known as sea/land breezes, is well documented. These local circulations develop in response to differential heating and cooling at the land/water interface. During daytime, the land surface temperature rises rapidly due to incoming solar radiation, whereas the water temperature stays almost constant due to its large heat capacity. The resulting pressure gradient sets up a circulation cell with on-shore winds at lower levels and return flow at upper levels (Figure 1). This process is reversed during the night time with land cooling rapidly to a lower temperature than that of the neighbouring water body.