Wind: Sea Breeze and

Land Breeze
 EnergyTransfer in the
Atmosphere

• Energy moves through the atmosphere in

three different ways-conduction, convection
and radiation
• Convection is the main way that air
circulates in the atmosphere
 What is convection?

• Energy transfer due to differences in density

• Occurs in liquids and gases
• Warm air rises
• Cool air sinks
• Forms a convection cell
 Water will have a higher
specific heat because it will
reflect the sun’s incoming solar
radiation....
Therefore...water will
take a longer time to
heat up, but will retain
this heat for
longer...so...
Sea Breeze and Land Breeze

The Sun heats up the surface of the Earth.

Because the Earth’s surface is made of different
things, some places heat up faster than others.
The air above the warmer places will also warm
up and will rise as a result. The air in the
surroundings will then move toward the place
where warm air is rising. We call this moving
air, wind.
The following occurrences outline how sea
breeze is formed:
During day time, the sun often quickly heats
up land.
The air above the land gets warmer than the
air above water.
As the air above land is warmer, it gets less
dense and it begins to rise.
Low pressure is formed.
The denser air above the water moves to the
space above the land. This cooler air is now
what is termed as a “sea breeze”.
 A sea breeze will
form...
• Sea Breeze: wind moves from ocean to
land
• The atmospheric pressure is higher over the
ocean then over the land because the air is
cooler during the day
• At night the air is cooler over the land, so a
land breeze forms
At night a land breeze
develops...
In the night,
the reverse happens. The land quickly loses its
heat while the water retains its warmth. This
means the air over the water is warmer, less
dense and begins to rise. Low pressure is
created over the water. Cold and dense air over
the land begins to move to the water surface to
replace the warmer rising air
Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
The problem we now face is that human
activities – particularly burning fossil fuels
(coal, oil and natural gas), agriculture and
land clearing – are increasing the
concentrations of greenhouse gases. This is
the enhanced greenhouse effect, which is
contributing to warming of the Earth. Global
warming, also referred to as climate change,
is a measurable increase in the average
temperature of the Earth’s climate system
due to the high level of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere