The Sea And Land Breezes

The sea breeze is due the temperature differences on the surface of the land and the sea during the course of the day. As soon as the sun rises the land begins to heat up and the sea surface remains cooler. Towards noon there is a greater difference in pressure because the wind over the sea is much cooler and denser -there is movement towards the warmer and less dense air over the land mass. This means that wind movement is created from the sea inland and called sea breeze, 'boukadoura' or 'batis' and prevails in coastal areas between the spring and autumn. Its velocity is approximately 15-30 nautical miles per hour, with greater intensity at noon and drops towards sunset. The sea breeze is the most ideal wind for coast sailing during the day. At sunset, the land mass will gradually loose its heat absorbed during the day, thus cooling the air over it. This also happens to a much lesser degree over the sea, so that by nighttime the air over the land mass becomes cooler and denser than it is over the sea. Due to this difference in pressure the wind created moves seaward and is called land breeze, or 'steriana', meaning 'coming from the land' This is a gentler breeze than the sea breeze and does not reach further than the shores. At times of dead calm however, it can move even sailboats moored up for the night by the shore.