Influence of Sea Breeze on the Daytime Urban Heat Island in Summer in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area

Abstract

We analyze the influence of sea breeze on temperature distribution in the Kanto Plain (central Japan) on a day that a sea breeze front was detected (known as sea-breeze front days) using high-resolution temperature data observed by our research team. The high-temperature area on sea breeze front days moves northwest from central Tokyo, and was located at Kawagoe city (middle Kanto Plain) at 14 JST, and the northern Kanto Plain at 16 to 18 JST, respectively. This high-temperature area appears at the head of the sea breeze front to the leeward of central Tokyo, where the daily maximum temperature is highest in Kawagoe city and the northern Kanto Plain. After the sea breeze front passes, the area where the temperature is higher than that at the circumference is distributed in the shape of a wedge. This wedge-shaped area is located to the leeward of central Tokyo where the wind from Tokyo Bay and Sagami Bay forms a convergence zone. The high-temperature area around Kawagoe city, which cannot be found on days with strong winds, is formed from the hindrance of cold air advection caused by sea breeze front penetration. On the other hand, high temperatures in the northern Kanto Plain may not be related to the penetration of sea breeze fronts, which do not reach the northern Kanto Plain on days when the daily maximum temperature is recorded. However, the temperature in the northern Kanto Plain is higher on sea breeze days than on strong southerly wind days, and this suggests that local circulation plays an important role in causing high temperatures in the northern Kanto.