J1.14
Observations and simulations of an ice-breeze associated with a low level front over the Labrador Sea
Rebekah Martin, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; and G. W. K. Moore
Sea-breezes are amongst the oldest and most studied circulations that are driven by differences in surface temperature. At high latitudes during the winter months, a significant thermal contrast can exist across the ice-ocean boundary resulting in a shallow baroclinic zone that has been implicated in the formation of polar lows. There also exists evidence that a thermally driven transverse circulation known as an ice-breeze is also associated with the ice-ocean boundary. Unfortunately observations of this front and its related mesoscale circulations are sparse. In this paper, we will present aircraft observations as well as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery of ice-breeze circulations from the Labrador Sea region. The Penn State-NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 5 (MM5) was used to perform simulations of the observed events. The model output will be used to diagnose the role that the ice-breeze circulation plays in the maintenance of the low-level front. .
Joint Session 1, Polar Coastal Processes (Joint with Sixth Conference on Coastal Atmospheric and Oceanic Prediction and Processes and the 8th Conf on Polar Meteorology and Oceanography)
Monday, 10 January 2005, 8:55 AM-5:45 PM
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