This is from my textbook, about sea breeze.

Question

"A water breeze occurs during the day when the solar energy warms up the land faster than the nearby water. Remember that water is a better heat sink than land, and so can absorb a lot of energy without getting hot. "

In class we learned about albedo and heat sinks. From this passage, am I to understand that it doesn't matter if the land has a higher albedo than water, it will still heat up more than water because water is a better heat sink? And the heated land will cause the sea breeze?

Answer 1

I think so, yes.

http://climate.ncsu.edu/edu/k12/.breezes

Answer 2

yes, water has a higher heat capacity (specific heat) than land
also, solar energy (radiation) can penetrate deeper into the water

the warmer air (over the land) is less dense and is displaced upward by the cooler air flowing in from over the water...sea breeze

Answer 3

additional question @ Scott

Is this correct?

If solar energy can penetrate deeper in water, that means the land will cool down faster at night (since it's not a good heat sink) and water will stay closer to the same temperature since more of the water was exposed to solar energy