The greater the temperature differences between land and sea, the stronger the land breezes and sea breezes.Īfter sunset, the air mass above the coastal land quickly loses heat while the air mass above the water generally remains much closer to it's daytime temperature. Depending on the temperature differences and amount of uplifted air, sea breezes may gust 15 to 20 miles per hour (13 to 17 knots (. Accordingly, during the day, there is usually a cooling sea breeze blowing from the ocean to the shore. The warmer air mass returns to sea at higher levels to complete a convective cell. As the warmer air rises by convection, cooler air is drawn from the ocean to fill the void. During the day, the warmer land temperature results in a warmer and therefore, less dense and lighter air mass above the coast as compared with the adjacent air mass over the surface of water. Moreover, the lower heat capacity of crustal materials often allows them to cool below the nearby water temperature.Īir above the respective land and water surfaces is warmed or cooled by conduction with those surfaces. Conversely, water's high heat capacity prevents rapid changes in water temperature at night and thus, while land temperatures may plummet tens of degrees, the water temperature remains relatively stable. Regardless of temperature scale, during daytime, land temperatures might change by tens of degrees, while water temperature change by less than half a degree. Current research on land and sea breeze circulation patterns also include attempts to model wind patterns that affect energy requirements (e.g., heating and cooling requirements) in affected areas as well as impacts on weather dependent operations (e.g., aircraft operations).īecause water has a much higher heat capacity that do sands or other crustal materials, for a given amount of solar irradiation (insolation), water temperature will increase less than land temperature. Land and sea breeze patterns can greatly influence fog distribution and pollution accumulation or dispersion over inland areas.
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