Land breeze and sea breezes take place near large bodies of water.

The key difference between the two

is caused by the property of water to retain and warm up longer. The differences in the temperature of
land and water causes respective changes to the densities of the air above them. The resulting low
pressures then cause alternating air movements which are manifested as breezes. Individuals situated
near coastlines (within 50 kilometers from the oceanfront) experience cool sea breezes during the day
and warm land breezes at night. Furthermore, these winds are instrumental in humidity and
temperature levels, and precipitation rates.

What is a Land Breeze?

As it name suggests, the local wind system which occurs from land to water is called land breeze and
some refer to it as an offshore wind. It arises at night and early morning when the land has a lower heat
capacity as compared to the adjacent water. Particularly, land breezes last longer during the last weeks of
summer as this is when the sea temperature will gradually increase to the land’s daily temperature
variations.

The following occurrences outline how land breeze is formed:

Late at night, the loss of heat source causes land to quickly cool down which causes the heat to be
released towards the surrounding air.

As compared to land, water retains heat longer which causes the air above it to have lesser density and
rise.

Low pressure is formed above the water while high pressure is formed above the land.

The denser air above the land moves to the space over the water.

As winds typically blow from high to low pressure areas, the cooler breeze then comes from the shore
and is now called as “land breeze”.

What Is a Sea Breeze?

Winds that blow from large bodies of water specifically seas and oceans are called sea breezes and some
refer to them as onshore winds. Generally, they occur more frequently during the spring and summer
seasons due to the more apparent temperature differences between the water and adjacent land. This is
most often observed in the afternoons when the nearby land has been heated at its maximum level.
Notably, sea breezes are stronger during summer months as compared to winter season. This is again
attributed to the huge temperature difference between land and sea which may even prompt
thunderstorms which are essential in bringing rain. Hence, sea breezes are not that apparent during
autumn and winter months because the temperature differentials are smaller.

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”.

Difference between Land and Sea Breeze

Time

Land breeze: is formed at nighttime

Sea breeze: is formed at daytime.

Source

As their names suggest, land breeze comes from land while sea breeze comes from water.

Depth

Since the cooling of the air over land typically occurs within a shallower layer at night, the land breeze is
likewise shallower as compared to the sea breeze.

Season

Sea breezes are more often experienced during spring and summer because of the significant
temperature differences between land and water. On the other hand, land breezes are most common in
autumn and winter due to the cooler nights.

Strength

Generally, sea breezes are stronger than land breezes due to the bigger temperature differences.

Speed

Sea breezes’ speed usually ranges from 10 to 20 knots while that of land breezes’ only range from 5 to 8
knots.
Moisture

Sea breezes have more moisture due to the absorbed particles from the bodies of water. On the other
hand, land breezes are often dry winds.

Occurrence during Winter Months

Unlike land breezes, sea breezes are not often observed during winter season. During such cold months,
land breezes are predominant in influencing weather; particularly when a strong change of wind
direction occurs at night.

Benefit to glider pilots

Glider pilots particularly take significant advantage of the sea breeze to steer in higher altitudes. Unlike
land breezes, sea breezes are strong enough to influence such aircraft operations.

Decrease in Air Temperature

A decrease in air temperature is most likely due to sea breezes whereas land breezes do not essentially
cause temperature changes.

What is a monsoon?

A monsoon is a seasonal shift in the prevailing wind direction, that usually brings with it a different kind
of weather. It almost always refers to the Asian monsoon, a large region extending from India to
Southeast Asia where monsoon conditions prevail.

Habagat Southwest Amihan Northeast: What Is Monsoon Weather?

A "monsoon" is a weather pattern; a monsoon has a different name in each country that it affects. In the
Philippines, the Summer Monsoon (West or southwest) is called the Habagat (ha-bag-at) and the Winter
Monsoon (North or northeast) is called the Amihan (a-me-han). The word 'monsoon' is believed to
originate from the Arabic word mawsim (season), via the Portuguese and then Dutch monsun.

A "monsoon" is a consistent wind pattern generated by a large weather system, that lasts for a period of
months and affects a large area of the planet.

Summer Southwest Monsoon - Habagat

Summer Monsoon weather is characterized by a strong, generally West or southwest breeze that is
responsible for bringing significant rainfall to the Asian subcontinent and to South and East Asia. The
significant southwest monsoon rainfall is a by-product of air passing over large areas of warm equatorial
ocean, stimulating increased levels of evaporation from the ocean’s surface; the southwest monsoon air,
now laden with water vapour, cools as it moves north and as it rises over land; at some point the air is no
longer able retain its moisture and precipitates copious volumes to irrigate rice fields and drench
rainforests, sometimes causing severe flooding below hillsides that have been foolishly stripped of forest
cover by Man. The Summer Monsoon (West or southwest) is the predominant weather pattern from late
April through to early October each year, throughout most Asian tropical destinations.

Winter Northeast Monsoon - Amihan

Winter Monsoon weather features a generally less strong, East or northeast breeze that is cool and dry
(compared to the Summer Monsoon weather) with prolonged periods of successive cloudless days. The
Winter Monsoon (North or northeast) features cool and dry air that originates in a vast anticyclone - a
weather system with a high barometric pressure - which forms over Siberia, Mongolia and northern
China during each northern winter. The Winter Monsoon air from the anticyclone pushes outward in a
clockwise motion from its centre and competes with the Summer Monsoon over a period of a week or
two, usually starting in late September and early October, before finally dominating the weather with a
cooler and drier northeast monsoon, in most Asian tropical and sub-tropical destinations, through to the
following April.

There is no specific weather pattern equivalent to a monsoon season in southern latitudes because there
is no continent large enough to create the conditions similar to those that drive the alternate Winter
Monsoon, as in the North. It could be said that the southern hemisphere is perpetually in varying
degrees of Summer Monsoon condition; Brazil and parts of equatorial Africa occasionally experience
some weather patterns that show some seasonal differences.

The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), known by sailors as the doldrums or the calms, is the area
encircling Earth near the Equator, where the northeast and southeast trade winds converge.

The ITCZ was originally identified from the 1920s to the 1940s as the "Intertropical Front" ("ITF"), but
after the recognition in the 1940s and the 1950s of the significance of wind field convergence in tropical
weather production, the term ITCZ was then applied.[1] When it lies near the Equator, it is called the
near-equatorial trough. Where the ITCZ is drawn into and merges with a monsoonal circulation, it is
sometimes referred to as a monsoon trough, a usage more common in Australia and parts of Asia. In the
seamen's speech, the zone is referred to as the doldrums because of its erratic (monotonous) weather
patterns with stagnant calms and violent thunderstorms.

The ITCZ appears as a band of clouds, usually thunderstorms, that encircle the globe near the Equator. In
the Northern Hemisphere, the trade winds move in a southwestward direction from the northeast, while
in the Southern Hemisphere, they move northwestward from the southeast. When the ITCZ is positioned
north or south of the Equator, these directions change according to the Coriolis effect imparted by
Earth's rotation. For instance, when the ITCZ is situated north of the Equator, the southeast trade wind
changes to a southwest wind as it crosses the Equator. The ITCZ is formed by vertical motion largely
appearing as convective activity of thunderstorms driven by solar heating, which effectively draw air in;
these are the trade winds.[2] The ITCZ is effectively a tracer of the ascending branch of the Hadley cell
and is wet. The dry descending branch is the horse latitudes.

The location of the ITCZ gradually varies with the seasons, roughly corresponding with the location of the
thermal equator. As the heat capacity of the oceans is greater than air over land, migration is more
prominent over land. Over the oceans, where the convergence zone is better defined, the seasonal cycle
is more subtle, as the convection is constrained by the distribution of ocean temperatures.[3]
Sometimes, a double ITCZ forms, with one located north and another south of the Equator, one of which
is usually stronger than the other. When this occurs, a narrow ridge of high pressure forms between the
two convergence zones.

Variation in the location of the intertropical convergence zone drastically affects rainfall in many
equatorial nations, resulting in the wet and dry seasons of the tropics rather than the cold and warm
seasons of higher latitudes. Longer term changes in the intertropical convergence zone can result in
severe droughts or flooding in nearby areas.

In some cases, the ITCZ may become narrow, especially when it moves away from the equator; the ITCZ
can then be interpreted as a front along the leading edge of the equatorial air.[6] There appears to be a
15 to 25-day cycle in thunderstorm activity along the ITCZ, which is roughly half the wavelength of the
Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO).[7]

Within the ITCZ the average winds are slight, unlike the zones north and south of the equator where the
trade winds feed. Early sailors named this belt of calm the doldrums because of the inactivity and
stagnation they found themselves in after days of no wind. To find oneself becalmed in this region in a
hot and muggy climate could mean death in an era when wind was the only effective way to propel ships
across the ocean. Even today, leisure and competitive sailors attempt to cross the zone as quickly as
possible as the erratic weather and wind patterns may cause unexpected delays.