What is a sea breeze and where does it typically occur?

Study for the METRO (Meteorology) – VT-10 Test. Enhance your knowledge with flashcards and multiple choice questions, each with hints and explanations. Get ready for your exam today!

Multiple Choice

What is a sea breeze and where does it typically occur?

Sea breeze is a local, coastal wind driven by daytime heating of the land. When the sun warms the land, the air over the land rises and creates a shallow low pressure near the surface. Cooler, denser air over the sea moves toward the land to replace the rising air, producing a flow from sea to land near the surface. This onshore wind strengthens in the afternoon and is typical along coastlines where land heats up faster than the adjacent sea. So the best description is an onshore flow caused by daytime land heating, common along coastlines. It’s not a nighttime offshore flow (that would be a land breeze), and it isn’t inland mountain or mariner’s winds unrelated to land heating.

Sea breeze is a local, coastal wind driven by daytime heating of the land. When the sun warms the land, the air over the land rises and creates a shallow low pressure near the surface. Cooler, denser air over the sea moves toward the land to replace the rising air, producing a flow from sea to land near the surface. This onshore wind strengthens in the afternoon and is typical along coastlines where land heats up faster than the adjacent sea.

So the best description is an onshore flow caused by daytime land heating, common along coastlines. It’s not a nighttime offshore flow (that would be a land breeze), and it isn’t inland mountain or mariner’s winds unrelated to land heating.

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