air mass

See also: airmass

English

Alternative forms

• airmass

Etymology

Perhaps a calque of German Luftmasse.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɛː mas/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɛəɹ mæs/, /ɛːɹ mæs/

Noun

air mass (plural air masses)

1. (meteorology) A particular volume of air, especially one having a roughly uniform temperature, pressure and water vapour content. [from 19th c.]
   • 1939 January 2, “Cloudburst”, in Time:

     After a 227-day drought ending with December temperatures above 90, a polar air mass collided with a wave of damp tropical air, condensed it in seven days of cloudburst.

   • 2013 December 31, Bridie Jabour, The Guardian:

     The mercury has been soaring in the state since the weekend because of an air mass hovering over Queensland.

Translations

(meteorology) a particular volume of air

• Catalan: massa d'aire f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 氣團／气团 (zh) (qìtuán)

• Finnish: ilmamassa (fi)
• French: masse d’air (fr) f
• German: Luftmasse (de) f
• Hungarian: légtömeg (hu)
• Japanese: 気団 (ja)
• Norwegian: luftmasse m
• Romanian: masă de aer (ro) f

Anagrams

• Marissa, Massari