Land breeze
Topic: Atmospheric Pressure, Winds and General Circulation · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 3 "Atmosphere and Climate"; Class 11, Ch 9 "Atmospheric Circulation and Weather Systems"
Meaning
A land breeze is a night-time wind that blows from land to sea. After sunset, land loses heat faster than water. The air over land becomes cooler and heavier, so pressure there becomes higher than over the sea. Air then flows from the land out to the sea. It is gentler than the sea breeze, because the temperature difference at night is smaller.
Example
Along the Kerala coast, fishermen have long sailed out before dawn with the land breeze and returned in the afternoon with the sea breeze.
Don't confuse with
- Sea breeze: it blows the opposite way, from sea to land, by day. It is usually stronger.
- Mountain breeze: it is also a night-time wind, but it blows down slopes into valleys, not from land out to sea.