Wind is the principal driving force in moving water around the lagoon. Local wind patterns are caused when the sun heats up the land. The air over the land rises as it gets warmer and less dense. Cooler air over the water is drawn towards the land to replace the rising hot air.

    As the moist sea breeze heats up over land it becomes less dense and rises. Being less dense, it no longer holds as much moisture and drops it as afternoon showers. This sea breeze blowing across the surface of the Lagoon moves surface water towards the western shore and mixes oxygen into it. On the eastern shore, water from the bottom of the Lagoon is drawn upward and can bring with it bottom sediment and lower oxygen levels.

   As the sun sets, the land cools off faster than the ocean, causing the air above it to cool and sink. Warmer air over the water rises and the cooler air on land moves towards the ocean to take the place of the rising warm air. The air circulation is opposite to the one illustrated above. This land breeze blows the surface water of the Lagoon towards the eastern shore and causes upwelling of bottom water to the west.

   Our volunteer monitors currently record wind direction as they collect water quality data each week. The arrows on the maps to the right show morning wind directions for the week of April 8th - 14th and April 15th - 23rd. Calm areas are marked with a circle. The far right map shows morning sea breezes were strong in mid April whereas early April (near right) shows a more mixed bag with winds being influenced by larger scale weather patterns moving fronts of warm or cold air from other parts of the country.