Sea Breeze and Land Breeze

What do we remember about Specific Heat?

Substances with a high specific heat warm and cool slowly. They take more energy to change temperature

• Substances with a low specific heat warm and cool quickly.• They take less energy to change temperature

•Water has a high specific Heat•Sand (Land) has a low specific heat

Heat is transferred in three ways: Convection- warm air rises over cold air

(Density) Conduction- Heat is transferred through

direct contact Radiation- Heat is transferred in invisible

waves. Ex: the suns energy reaches Earth as radiation

All 3 types of heat transfer affect the climate and weather on Earth.

Putting it all Together…

Heat from the Sun is transferred to the Earth through Radiation.

During the day…Sea BreezeHow does a breeze in the middle of a hot day feel?

The SAME amount of heat energy hits the land and the water on Earth, but water has a higher Specific Heat than land.

The Land gets hot much faster than the water.

The Air that touches the land gets warm through conduction.

The Air over the ocean stays cooler.

Because Warm air is less dense than cold air, convection occurs.

The warm air will rise up allowing the cool air over the ocean to come in to the land

This feels like a cool breeze from the ocean called a Sea Breeze. (It’s named by where it comes from)

SEE…

During the night…Land Breeze

We learned from Specific Heat that water warms slowly, AND cools slowly.

At night when the sun goes down, the land cools very quickly because it has a low specific heat.

The ocean stays warm because it has a high specific heat and holds onto the heat longer.

The convection Current in the air is now reversed.

During the night…Land Breeze

The warm air over the water rises, and the cold air over the land moves in over the ocean to replace the warm air.

A cool breeze would pass over the ocean called a LAND BREEZE.(Again, named by where it comes from)

SEE…