Progress in the study of sea land breeze: Identification, observation, and interacting factors (IMAGE)
Caption
The conceptual diagram of SLB system. The SLB system comprises two complementary components: the sea breeze (SW), which occurs during daytime, and the land breeze (LW), which occurs at night. Both are driven by the diurnal temperature difference between land and sea (TDLS), resulting from the disparity in heat capacity between land and ocean surfaces. During daytime, TDLS develops due to differential heating under solar shortwave radiation, while at night, it arises from differential cooling through longwave radiation emission. Therefore, factors influencing radiative forcing—such as cloud cover—play critical roles in modulating SLB dynamics. The background wind field refers to large-scale airflow driven by synoptic-scale systems and constitutes one component of coastal wind patterns. The terms onshore and offshore wind specifically denote the near-surface component of the background wind field that is oriented roughly perpendicular to the coastline.
Credit
©Science China Press
Usage Restrictions
Use with credit.
License
Original content