Definition
A local wind that blows from the sea toward the land during the day, caused by the land heating faster than the adjacent water. The warmer air over the land rises, and cooler air from over the water flows in to replace it, producing an onshore breeze that is typically strongest in the afternoon.
Plain English
A daytime wind that blows off the water onto the shore, because the land warms up faster than the sea and the cooler sea air moves in to take the place of the rising warm air over the land.
Context Anchor
Seen in coastal weather discussions, especially when studying convective currents and local wind changes near airports close to large bodies of water.
Derivation
“Sea” points to the water the wind comes from, and “breeze” means a light or moderate wind. The name helps because a sea breeze is identified by where the air comes from: the sea or other large body of water, moving toward land.
Why Pilots Care
It can produce gusty surface winds and abrupt direction changes near the coast that affect takeoff, landing, and low-altitude handling.
Grounding Statement
On a sunny afternoon at a beach, the steady wind you feel coming in off the water is a sea breeze.
Intuition Check
A sea breeze is not just any gentle wind near the ocean. In aviation weather, it specifically means wind blowing from the water toward the land because of daytime heating differences.
Example Sentence 1
By early afternoon, a sea breeze had set in, shifting the surface wind onshore and prompting a runway change at the coastal airport.
Example Sentence 2
Near the coast the pilot noted the sea breeze shifting the surface wind from calm to a steady 10 knots from the water.