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Geolens

Glossary

417 words used in the labs.

Find a term from the labs, understand the process behind it, and see how it appears in the landscape. Each entry connects an explanation with a real observation and a model you can explore.

Term

Sea breeze

A local wind blowing from sea towards land when daytime heating makes the land warmer than nearby water. A circulation develops with rising air over land and return flow aloft. Stronger background winds can weaken or overwhelm it.

What to look for

Aqua MODIS, 9 April 2013. Sea-breeze air moves inland and helps cumulus clouds develop over the warmer island. Silvery water is sunglint. This daytime image shows sea-breeze effects, not a night-time land breeze.

Related labs

Thermal circulation →
Afternoon cumulus clouds over Sri Lanka, observed by Aqua MODIS on 9 April 2013.
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Explore further with USGS water glossary · USGS volcano glossary · NPS glacial geology · NASA Earth facts. Photograph acknowledgements are collected on the Image credits page.