Evidence for sea breezes on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea Coast

Atmospheric environmental data collected in August 1976 and 1977 along the Beaufort Sea coast of Alaska exhibited both circumstantial and direct evidence of the existence of sea breezes at 70°N latitude. To estimate the total atmospheric boundary layer turninga two-dimensional least squares technique was used to derive the three hourly gradient wind (above the atmospheric boundary layer) with data from surface pressure stations for simultaneous comparison to surface wind data. Results indicated the average turning of the wind from above the boundary layer to the surface was 120° on sea breeze days. Rotary spectra from time series data of surface winds measured at offshore and onshore sites have shown the horizontal extent of the sea breeze influence to include at least a 37 km zone centered on the coastline. The sea breeze is largely responsible for the increased persistence of surface onshore (northeasterly and easterly) winds documented in August historical data for the Alaskan Beaufort Sea coast.