Table of Contents
What is sea breeze caused by?
Sea breezes occur during hot, summer days because of the unequal heating rates of land and water. During the day, the land surface heats up faster than the water surface. As the warm air over the land is rising, the cooler air over the ocean is flowing over the land surface to replace the rising warm air.
What is a sea breeze circulation?
The sea breeze circulation is composed of two opposing flows; one at the surface (called the sea breeze) and one aloft (which is a return flow). These two flows are a result of the difference in air density between the land and sea caused by the sun’s heating. The sun warms both the ground and ocean at the same rate.
What causes sea breeze and land breeze?
Land and Sea breezes, both are basically caused by the differential heating between the land and sea. The air over the sea is warmer than the air over the land at this time. Therefore, the pressure over water is low and high on land. Also, we have a land breeze blowing from land to sea.
Is sea breeze caused due to convection?
This steady wind, the sea breeze, is a result of the uneven heating during the daytime between the land and the adjacent water. As the land warms up, the air next to it heats by conduction and rises, warming the air above the land by convection.
What is the effect of sea breeze?
It causes the air near the coast to move to the land surface to occupy the space of the rising warm air. The strength of the sea breeze is directly proportional to the difference in temperature between the land and the sea. The warm air that rises moves over the water and the cold water allows it to cool off and sink.
Is convection responsible for sea breeze and land breeze?
The air above the land warms up and rises and the cool air over the sea moves in to take its place, resulting in the sea breeze in the daytime. At night, as the sea maintains its temperature better and is warmer than the land, the roles of land and sea reverse and convection of air results in the land breeze.
What causes a sea breeze to form on land?
The Sea-Breeze is a circulation that develops due to differential heating of air over land and sea. As the sun heats the boundary layer over land, the resulting pressure gradient causes the movement of low-level air from the sea to land (Sea-Breeze) with a return flow aloft (return current).
What kind of circulation is the sea breeze?
The sea breeze is a surface manifestation of a thermally driven mesoscale circulation called the sea-breeze circulation, which often includes a weak return (land to sea) flow aloft. Jason Evans, Kendal McGuffie, in The Future of the World’s Climate (Second Edition), 2012
Why is the sea breeze called a return flow?
The sea breeze circulation is composed of two opposing flows; one at the surface (called the sea breeze) and one aloft (which is a return flow). These two flows are a result of the difference in air density between the land and sea caused by the sun’s heating. The sun warms both the ground and ocean at the same rate.
What happens to the sea breeze after sunrise?
Warming of the land surface after sunrise is rapid, while the sea surface temperature remains almost constant, so the boundary layer inland becomes relatively warm over the space of a few hours. This leads to a baroclinic overturning (Figure 3A) and the development of a flow resembling a density current, as a cold sea breeze front pushes inland.