Articles | Volume 26, issue 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-10909-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-10909-2026
Research article
 | 
05 Aug 2026
Research article |  | 05 Aug 2026

Diurnal sea breeze worsens coastal air quality and complicates monitoring of remote North Atlantic air

Mingxi Yang, Thomas G. Bell, Ian Brooks, Frances Hopkins, Jani Pewter, Katie Read, and Timothy J. Smyth

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Cited articles

Archibald, A. T., Sinha, B., Russo, M. R., Matthews, E., Squires, F. A., Abraham, N. L., Bauguitte, S. J.-B., Bannan, T. J., Bell, T. G., Berry, D., Carpenter, L. J., Coe, H., Coward, A., Edwards, P., Feltham, D., Heard, D., Hopkins, J., Keeble, J., Kent, E. C., King, B. A., Lawrence, I. R., Lee, J., Macintosh, C. R., Megann, A., Moat, B. I., Read, K., Reed, C., Roberts, M. J., Schiemann, R., Schroeder, D., Smyth, T. J., Temple, L., Thamban, N., Whalley, L., Williams, S., Wu, H., and Yang, M.: Data supporting the North Atlantic Climate System Integrated Study (ACSIS) programme, including atmospheric composition; oceanographic and sea-ice observations (2016–2022); and output from ocean, atmosphere, land, and sea-ice models (1950–2050), Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 135–164, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-135-2025, 2025. 
Berthou, S., Renshaw, R., Smyth, T., Tinker, J., Grist, J. P., Wihsgott, J. U., Jones, S., Inall, M., Nolan, G., Berx, B., and Arnold, A.: Exceptional atmospheric conditions in June 2023 generated a northwest European marine heatwave which contributed to breaking land temperature records, Commun. Earth Environ., 5, 287, https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01413-8, 2024. 
Brown, A., Vincent, C., and Short, E.: Identifying sea breezes from atmospheric model output (sea_breeze v1.1), Geosci. Model Dev., 19, 933–953, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-933-2026, 2026. 
Cosby, A. G., Lebakula, V., Smith, C. N., Wanik, D. W., Bergene, K., Rose, A. N., Swanson, D., and Bloom, D. E.: Accelerating growth of human coastal populations at the global and continent levels: 2000–2018, Sci. Rep., 14, 22489, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-73287-x, 2024. 
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Diurnal sea breeze events can have a strong but uncertain impact on coastal air quality. In this study, using 10 years of observations we show that sea breeze occurs mostly when the sea is cool, wind speeds low, and solar irradiance strong. Surface of gas and particulate pollutants are all higher during sea breeze events than on other days, increasing the rate of air quality regulation exceedance. This may be of concern for beach goers and for people who spend more time outdoors.
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