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Define sea breeze

seo-qna
Last updated date: 06th Sep 2024
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Answer
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Hint: A breeze or onshore breeze is any wind that blows from an outsized body of water toward or onto a landmass; it develops thanks to differences in atmospheric pressure created by the differing heat capacities of water and land. As such, sea breezes are more localized than prevailing winds. Because land heats up much faster than water under radiation, a breeze may be a common occurrence along coasts after sunrise. Against this, a land breeze or offshore breeze has the reverse effect: land also cools more quickly than water and, after sunset, a breeze dissipates, and therefore the wind instead flows from the land towards the ocean.

Complete step-by-step solution:
The sea features a greater heat capacity than land, therefore the surface of the ocean warms up more slowly than the land's because the temperature of the surface of the land rises, and the land heats the air above it by convection. The warming air expands and becomes less dense, decreasing the pressure over the land near the coast. The air above the ocean features a relatively higher pressure, causing air near the coast to flow towards the lower pressure over land.

Note: Sea breezes and land breezes are both important factors in coastal regions' prevailing winds. The term offshore wind may refer to any wind over open water.
The strength of the ocean breeze is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the land and therefore the sea. If a robust offshore wind is present and opposes the direction of a possible breeze, the ocean breeze isn't likely to obtain.