Sea breeze

A sea breeze or onshore breeze is a wind that blows in the afternoon from a large bodyof water toward or onto a landmass. By contrast, a landbreeze or offshore breeze is a wind that blows in the night from a landmass toward or onto a large bodyof water. Seabreezes and landbreezes are both important factors in coastal regions' prevailing winds.

Sea breeze and land breeze develop due to differences in air pressure created by the differing heat capacities of water and dryland. As such, seabreezes and landbreezes are more localised than prevailing winds. Since land heats up much faster than water under solar radiation, a seabreeze is a common occurrence along coasts after sunrise. On the other hand, dryland also cools faster than water without solar radiation, so the wind instead flows from the land towards the sea when the seabreeze dissipates after sunset.

The land breeze at nighttime is usually shallower than the seabreeze in daytime. Unlike the daytime seabreeze, which is driven by convection, the nighttime landbreeze is driven by convergence.

The term offshore wind refers to any wind over open water, which is related to but not synonymous with offshore breeze.