Question

While at the beach, Sam and Sal recorded the temperatures on land and at sea. They discovered that at night the ocean air temperature was higher than the temperature over land. During the night, which direction will the wind MOST LIKELY blow?

A. The wind does not blow.
B. The wind will blow toward the land.
C. The wind will blow toward the ocean.
D. There is no way to tell which way the wind will blow.

Answer 1

At night, winds will most likely blow toward the ocean, known as a land breeze, due to the differences in specific heat capacity between land and water, with water retaining heat longer than land.

Step-by-step explanation:

During the night, the wind will most likely blow toward the ocean. This is because land cools down faster than water after sunset, which results in higher air temperatures over the ocean compared to the land during night hours. As air over the warmer sea rises, cooler air from the land moves in to replace it, creating a land breeze. This phenomenon is based on the specific heat capacities of water and land, where water has a higher specific heat capacity than land, meaning it can absorb more heat before it gets warmer and retains that heat for longer periods.

The specific heat capacity causes the sea temperature to influence conditions on the coast, leading to temperature changes at different rates for land and water. Therefore, after sunset the cooler air over land will flow towards the warmer air over the ocean, resulting in a breeze directed from land to sea.