Sea Breeze
The sea/land
breezes are local winds that are driven by
the difference in temperature between a body
of water and a land surface. During the day,
the land will heat up faster than the water.
This warm air tends to rise and is replaced
by cooler air over the ocean moving inland,
this is a sea breeze. At night, the land
tends to cool more rapidly than the water
and the land temperature may become lower
than the water temperature. This leads to
the development of a land breeze (the
opposite of a sea breeze).
In Florida
the sea breeze is of particular importance
to wildland fire fighters as it is usually
linked to changes in relative humidity and
winds as well as the development of
thunderstorms. The changes in weather
conditions associated with the passage of
the sea breeze front can cause dramatic
changes in fire activity.
See animated image
NEXRAD
doppler radar provides meteorologists with a
tool for tracking the inland penetration of
the sea breeze front. The following image
shows the sea breeze interacting with the
outflow from a thunderstorm (image courtesy
of the National
Weather Service, Melbourne, FL).
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