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Theory for expansion work applied to breezes of Northeast of Brazil

The purpose of this work is to further understand the interactions between sea-land breeze and valley-mountain breeze that occur at the coast of Northeast Brazil due to the presence of the Borborema plateau, using the associated expansion work at the lower branch of these circulations. Results of the thermal machine theory are compared to the 3D results obtained from the Brazilian RAMS model version. The results indicate that the sole effect of temperature contrast on the work associated with circulations (Wa) is more intense sea breezes and weaker land breezes. Actually, one can observe land breezes whose intensities are equal or even larger than sea breezes. Thus, the mountain contribution for the intensity of the breeze circulations in the nighttime is extremely non-linear. The expansion work that is actually associated with these circulations contributes only with 7% for the total work. Consequently, the larger part of the total work is associated with the compression work performed by the atmosphere in order to compensate long-wave cooling and much of the energy available for the circulations is consumed to overcome dissipation.

Breeze; Thermodynamic Theory; Expansion Work; BRAMS


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