Sea 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 sea breeze is a daytime wind that blows from sea to land. In the day, land heats up faster than water. The warm air over land rises and creates low pressure. Cooler air from the sea, where pressure is higher, moves in to take its place. It is strongest in the afternoon and keeps coastal towns cooler than places inland.
Example
On summer afternoons, a sea breeze from the Bay of Bengal cools Chennai, on the Tamil Nadu coast. Places further inland stay hotter.
Don't confuse with
- Land breeze: it blows the opposite way, from land to sea, at night. It is weaker.
- Monsoon: it is also a land–sea pressure effect, but it reverses with the seasons over a whole region. A sea breeze reverses every day and stays near the coast.