This paper is a contribution to experimental meteorology: A sea-breeze fron
t was investigated by aircraft observations and thorough numerical analysis
using an unprecedented number of runs crossing the same front within a tim
espan of 3 1/2 h. The 33 runs were flown in a situation of offshore geostro
phic wind of 5 m/s in 1000 hPa and with the strategy of obtaining informati
on on the four-dimensional field (t = time, x = cross-coastal coordinate, y
= coast-parallel coordinate, z = height): 9 runs in x-direction (and rever
se) at different heights to yield x,z-cross-sections of the observed meteor
ological quantities (specific humidity q, potential temperature Theta and t
he components u, v and w of the wind velocity), assuming a frozen structure
in time; the next 7 runs again in x-direction but all at the same level an
d on the same track to yield x,t-diagrams of the same quantities in order t
o study the temporal changes compared to those with x and z; the next 10 ru
ns as a zig-zagging flight track crossing the front but drifting in y-direc
tion, all at the same height, in order to obtain the y-dependency; and fina
lly 7 runs for another x,z-cross-sectional analysis, which can be compared
to that evaluated from the mns at the beginning of the mission.
The paper describes the 4-dimensional dependencies in detail. Pure x-variat
ions at constant z are expressed by VCM low-pass filtered space series (VCM
= variance conserving multiresolution, according to Howell and Mahrt, 1994
). The x,z-analyses are similar to those in Kraus et al. (1990) and Finkele
et al. (1995) verifying these results. The comparison of the x,z-studies g
ained from the data at the beginning and at the end of the mission show how
the sea-breeze frontal area changes its structure. The fluctuations (in ti
me) revealed by the low-pass filtered x,t-runs (same track and same height)
are smaller than the contour intervals chosen in the x,z-cross-sections. T
his shows, that the single runs, from which the x,z-cross-sections are cons
tructed, reliably and significantly contribute to the interpolated structur
e. The paper also demonstrates the overall development of the front within
the 3(1/2) h of continuous observation. The x,y-fields demonstrate that the
y-dependency of the various quantities is generally one order of magnitude
smaller than the x-dependency and that the assumption of negligible y-depe
ndency holds in the first order of approximation for a fairly homogeneous c
oast. Convective disturbances of a horizontal scale of 1 to 4 km at the lan
dward side of the front, embedded in the offshore flow and bouncing against
the landward propagating sea-breeze front, considerably contribute to vari
ations of the frontal propagation speed and of the frontal shape and also t
o changes of the parameters with the along-frontal coordinate y.