Thermal Winds

EESA09
Lecture 7

Outline
Part 1 Thermal Winds
Land/sea breeze
Monsoon
Valley Breeze
Foehn/Chinook
Katabatic wind

Part 2 Urban Heat Island

Part 3 Research: Trends in temperature for the GTA
Chinooks and Day to Day temperature variability

Thermal breezes
Land/sea breeze

Monsoons
Valley breeze
Katabatic wind
Chinook

Land/sea breeze
Thermally induced circulation

Causes pressure differences

Often associated with day and night contrasts
Diurnal variation

Sea breeze
(Land 27C, Water 18C)

Sea breeze front

As the sea breeze develops

the advancing on-shore

breeze forms a front
Sea breeze front

Land air is forced up and

can generate sea breeze

frontal clouds
Shallower than fronts
produced by midlatitude
cyclones

Land Breeze

Thermal breezes from the Great Lakes Region

Thermal breeze - Florida

Sea breeze frequency

Sea breeze analysis along
60
# of Sea Breezes

New Jersey coast of USA

Clear bias for summer
time sea breezes when
land/sea contrasts are
greatest

Sea Breeze Climatology (1996-2002) at Tuckerton

54

50
40

40
30

43

24

21

20
12

10

6
1

8
1

Month

Thermal breezes
Land/sea breeze

Monsoons
Valley breeze
Katabatic wind
Chinook

Monsoon
Arabic word, mausim, meaning season

Referred to seasonal trade winds in Arabian Sea

Seasonal scale thermal wind
Asian Monsoon

Large scale impacts on India and surrounding

countries (south Asia) and Africa

Summer monsoon begins late May
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMNCJiCsrwo&feature=related

Indian Monsoon

Monsoon
Rain lasts for weeks at a time

Can be critical for crops, drinking water

Other monsoons occur in Africa, Australia, South America,

North America (Mexico and South-western US)

Not as pronounced as the South Asian monsoon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdKTMqtP7dM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XIEKA3rbVI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R67iIYene_w&feature=fvwrel

Thermal breezes
Land/sea breeze

Monsoons
Valley breeze
Katabatic wind
Chinook

Valley Breeze
Smaller scale wind
Also driven by diurnal variations

in heating
During the day land warms
faster than the air and upslope
winds are induced
At night the opposite occurs and
downslope winds are induced
Important feature for hikers

Thermal breezes
Land/sea breeze

Monsoons
Valley breeze
Katabatic wind
Chinook

Katabatic Wind
Another mountain wind
Air passing over a glacier

or ice sheet becomes very

cold and dense
Cold air funnels into
valleys producing cold
strong winds

Thermal breezes
Land/sea breeze

Monsoons
Valley breeze
Katabatic wind
Chinook

Chinook
Wind on the lee side of

mountains foehn wind

Chinook North American
term

Chinook

Which way is the chinook blowing and why?

Other Foehn winds

Zonda (Argentina)

Aspre (France)
Foehn (Switzerland)
Sky sweeper (Spain)

Phenomena released as
Creepers in North America
in 1985 features a Foehn wind
- linked to mood swings/madness

Chinooks and Human Health

Cooke et al. (2000)

Linked chinook episodes in Calgary, Alberta to migraine

headache occurrence
Epidemiological study statistical linkage between two
factors not necessarily causal
Explanations
Psychological trigger many believe that migraines are

triggered by weather and weather change

Changes in temperature and pressure associated with wind
changes may be the trigger [more on this in Part III]

Outline
Part 1 Thermal Winds
Part 2 Urban Heat Island
What is it?
What causes it?
Torontos heat island

Part 3 Research: Trends in temperature for the GTA

Chinooks and Day to Day temperature variability

Urban versus Rural

Pollution level
Sunshine hours
Temperature
Relative humidity
Visibility
Wind speed
Precipitation
Cloudiness
Thunderstorms

Higher
Lower
Higher
Lower
Lower
Lower
Higher
Higher
Higher

Reduced visibility in Xian, China

Urban Heat Island

What is it?
Warming of urban areas

compared to surrounding
areas
Most noticeable at night and
in the winter months
More intense when winds are
weak or non-existent
Up to 10C warmer in city
core
Mitigated by green space,
water

Urban Heat Island

What causes it?

Several sources
Reduced evaporation
Reduced albedo (reflectivity)
Heat storage
Heat generation

No dominant mechanism, city dependent

Evaporative Cooling
Radiant energy from the sun is used at the surface

to either heat the surface or evaporate water

Heating the surface increases the surface
temperature
Evaporation transforms the energy into latent heat
and does not increase the surface temperature

Wet Surface Incoming

Surface heating

Evaporation
Ground storage
Dry Surface

Surface heating

Ground storage

Evaporation

Suppression of Evaporation
Buildings, pavement prevent evaporation
Lack of vegetation which would bring water up

from the soil

More energy goes into heating the surface and
less into evaporation thus enhancing the heating
(UHI)

Albedo Changes
Albedo is a surfaces ability to

reflect energy
Albedo ranges from 0 to 1
0 represents no reflected energy,
all absorbed by the surface
1 represents all the energy is
reflected, none absorbed by the
surface

Albedo
Snow has a high albedo

approaching 1
In urban areas there is less

snow
Snow that does fall is removed
Urban areas thus have lower
albedo and thus more energy is
absorbed

Heat Storage
Tall buildings create a complex geometry canyon effect
Radiant energy trapped by buildings
Wind is blocked, preventing convective cooling

Urban Generation of Heat

Industry, motor vehicles,

domestic heating and air

conditioning release large
quantities of heat
Some types of urban pollution
can prevent release of excess
heat

Heat Island and Temperature Increase

Oke (1973)
linked heat island (T) to
log(Population)
biggest difference is in daily
minimum temperature (night time)
Toronto examples
Field study
Downtown / Pearson comparison
Toronto / Vineland comparison

Urban Heat Island

Link between UHI and

electrical power load

Electrical power load is
linked to population size

Outline
Part 1 Thermal Winds
Part 2 Urban Heat Island
What is it?
What causes it?
Torontos heat island

Part 3 Research: Trends in temperature for the GTA

Chinooks and Day to Day temperature variability

Torontos Heat Island

Ted Munn U of T professor

(1967)
First thorough examination of
Torontos micro-climate
Discovered a well defined heat
island focused on the downtown
Modified by wind and topography
UHI shaped by cool air intrusion
from Lake Ontario flooding up
the Humber, Don and Rouge
Valleys

Toronto, Ontario

Gough and Rozanov (2001)

Using climate normals, Urban Heat Island was

assessed for Toronto, Ontario

Climate normals: thirty year mean values of
maximum and minimum daily temperature
Downtown Toronto was compared to rural site
at Pearson Airport
Comparison over the long term with Vineland

Pearson
Toronto
Lake Ontario

Vineland

Tmin

Tmax
Lake Breeze

Downtown cooler than airport!

Rozanov and Gough (2004)

Is the urban heat island of

Toronto changing with

time?
Vineland results suggest

that it has.

(Vineland Toronto) minimum temperature difference

Past
1926-1936

More
Recent
1977-1987

Diurnal Temperature
Why has the heat island

increased?
Time series from
downtown Toronto
station 1840 - 2000
Links to topography,
urbanization

Different Tmax and Tmin in Toronto

16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
1820

1860

1900

1940

1980

2020

TMAX
TMIN
DIFF

Rural Comparison
Diurnal Temperature Range
13

12

11

10

TORONTO
VINELAND

6
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

DELHI
PEARSON

Urban sprawling

Limits to UHI
Urban sprawl limits cooling

effect of country breeze

Thus Tmin keeps increasing
Lake breeze during the day
still operative and Tmax does
not increase as much as Tmin

Different Tmax and Tmin in Toronto

16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
-2
1820

1860

1900

1940

1980

2020

TMAX
TMIN
DIFF

Summary
Intensifying UHI in Toronto

Changes in diurnal temperature

Influence of expanding urbanization
Suppression of the country breeze

Thermal Wind Concept Map

Outline
Part 1 Thermal Winds

Part 2 Urban Heat Island

Part 3 Research:
Trends in temperature in the GTA
Mohsin and Gough (2009)
Chinooks and Day to Day temperature variability
Gough (2007)

Local Geography - Great Lakes

For Toronto, Great Lakes modify

the local climate

less extremes seasonally and

diurnally

Heat capacity of the lakes cause

winters to be warmer and summers

cooler
Toronto has greater precipitation
than Calgary more energy goes
into evaporating surface water and
soil moisture

Trends in temperature in the GTA (Mohsin and Gough,2009)

Analysis
Trends in temperature for seven stations in the GTA
To isolate the urban heat island effect, changes in annual

temperature for an urban station is compared with a rural station

Spatial distribution of the changes in annual mean temperature
for two different period, 1989-2000 and 1970-2000

Mean temperature
4.00

2.00
1.00

20
00

19
98

19
96

19
94

19
92

19
90

19
88

19
86

19
84

19
82

19
80

19
78

19
76

19
74

-1.00

19
72

0.00
19
70

Normal dis. values

3.00

-2.00

Years

-3.00

Torndow n

Pearson

ToronIsland

Richmondhill

Woodbridge

Albionhill

Oshaw a

Maximum Temparature
6

Normal dis. values

5
4
3
2
1
0
-1

18 7
8

18 8
8

18 9
8

19 0
8

19 1
8

19 2
8

19 3
8

19 4
8

19 5
8

19 6
8

19 7
8

-2

Years

-3

Minimum Temperature

Normal dis. values

10
8
6
4
2
0
-2

18 7
8

18 8
8

-4

Normal dis. values

6
4
2
0
-2
-4

18 7
8

18 8
8

18 9
8

19 0
8

19 1
8

19 2
8

19 3
8

19 4
8

19 5
8

19 6
8

19 7
8

Years
Toronto

19 0
8

19 1
8

19 2
8

Years

Mean Temperature

18 9
8

Beatrice

19 3
8

19 4
8

19 5
8

19 6
8

19 7
8

To
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db
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K
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m
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e
Tr
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on
do
w

To
r

Temperature C

Annual Mean

11

10
9

1970-2000

1989-2000

Conclusions
Magnitude of the trends in temperature are higher in

urban areas compared to rural areas during 1970-2000

UHI impact is more pronounced on the minimum
temperature than on the maximum temperature (Lake
effect), and in winter months
The magnitude of the temperature decreases with
increasing distance from Toronto downtown
At least 30% of the warming, which is observed at
Toronto downtown is due to urban heat island effect.

Part III
Research
Chinooks and day to day temperature variability
Gough (2008)
W.A. Gough

Measuring Climate variability

Climate variability
Linked to
human comfort and health
perception of climate change
Infrastructure design

Does our climate have short term

memory?
Traditional measures of variability
Standard deviation (a measure of departure from average or mean value)
Threshold extremes (e.g. days greater than 30C)
Percentiles (tail ends of a distribution, e.g. 95th percentile)

4
2

Feb. 1980
Beatrice

0
1
-2
-4

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Mean: -5.46C
S.D.: 4.1C
5C swings: 3

-6
Series1
-8
-10
-12
-14
-16
-18

Day to day variability

Some researchers consider SD as a measure of day to day variability
However, SD assumes randomness in the data
Another measure is not the departure from the monthly average but from the

previous day

DTD

Ti 1

N 1

Where | | means absolute value (always a positive difference)

N is number of days in the month
i is a counter that marches through the days of the month

This is largely how we experience weather change weather swings

Characterizing our climate

3 possibilities
Linear (gradual change from lowest to highest value

minimizes the variability or swings indicates a degree of

climate memory today depends on yesterday)
Random (unordered no memory of previous day)
Oscillatory (reactionary swings between extremes like a
pendulum)

Characterizing our climate

7

Linear
Random
Oscillatory

0
1

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Theoretical cases
Create a fictional month of 30 days
10 days have 2 oC
10 days have 3 oC
10 days have 4 oC

No matter how these days are organized the standard

deviation (departure from the mean) is constant

Conclusions
Linear climate (strong memory), R < 1
Random climate (little to no memory), R ~ 1
Oscillatory climate (reactionary swings), R > 1
What about real data?

Lets examine and compare Toronto and Calgary (home of chinooks)

Toronto Variability
1971 2000 data, R is

Ratio DTD/SD Toronto

0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6

Ratio

calculated for all months and

averaged for Tmin and Tmax
R<1
Not a random climate, some
degree of climate memory or
progression
Seasonality is not strong,
more random in summer
Tmin appears to be less
random especially in spring
and summer

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1

10

11

12

Month
Tmin

Tmax

DTD variability in Calgary

R<1

Suggests climate memory

Stronger seasonal dependence

Ratio Calgary

More random in summer, less

0.8
0.7
0.6

Ratio

so in winter
Tmin in this case is more
random especially in the
summer months

0.9

0.5

Tmin

0.4

Tmax

0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1

Month

10

11

12

Toronto/Calgary comparison
R values are not very

5 C Swings Tmin
12

10

Number of Swings

intuitive to grasp
Another measure of
variability: counting number
of times that the
temperature swings exceed
5C
Autumn differences due to
presence of Lake Ontario
mitigates cold extremes

0
1

Month

Toronto

Calgary

10

11

12

Toronto/Calgary Comparison
5C swings

Tmax
Calgary has a dryer

14
12
10

Counts

climate available
energy heats the surface
rather than evaporate
water

5 C Swings Tmax

Toronto
Calgary

6
4
2
0
1

Month

10

11

12

Toronto/Calgary Comparison
10 C Swings Tmin
3.5

10C Swings
Very few large swings in the

2.5

Counts

Tmin and Tmax

Toronto
Calgary

1.5
1

summer in either city

Calgary has more extreme
swings in fall and winter
months
Impact of Chinook winds

0.5
0
1

10

11

12

Month

10 C Swings Tmax
4.5
4
3.5

Month

3
2.5

Toronto

Calgary

1.5
1
0.5
0
1

Counts

10

11

12

Why the difference?

Energy Partitioning for wet

and dry climates

Great Lakes

Presence of water mitigates

extremes

Chinooks
Can produce rapid changes
in temperature on the
leeside of the Rockies

Chinooks
Calgary chinooks provide

extreme temperature variations

over short periods of time
Record: January 11, 1983
-17oC to 13oC in 4 hours

25 to 40 days per year are

Chinook days
Mainly in winter months
Several definitions used

Conclusions
Climate of Toronto and Calgary cannot be characterized as

random but as having some memory

Calgary exhibits greater swings temperature than Toronto
Linked to Chinooks and local geography
Chinooks tend to accentuate changes due to changing

weather patterns, Great Lakes mitigate change

Effect more pronounced during the day

Next week
Measuring WIND