An air mass is a large body of air with similar temperature and moisture characteristics that forms over source regions with consistent surface features. There are four main types of air masses: arctic, which brings very cold and windy weather; maritime polar, which brings rain or snow in winter and cool fog in summer; continental polar, which brings extremely cold and dry winter weather and cool dry summers; and maritime tropical and continental tropical, which bring warm weather with the maritime tropical being humid and the continental tropical being dry. Fronts define the boundaries where different air masses meet and can bring thunderstorms, rain or snow with cold fronts and drizzly rain followed by warmer conditions with warm fronts. Pressure systems form as air rises
An air mass is a large body of air with similar temperature and moisture characteristics that forms over source regions with consistent surface features. There are four main types of air masses: arctic, which brings very cold and windy weather; maritime polar, which brings rain or snow in winter and cool fog in summer; continental polar, which brings extremely cold and dry winter weather and cool dry summers; and maritime tropical and continental tropical, which bring warm weather with the maritime tropical being humid and the continental tropical being dry. Fronts define the boundaries where different air masses meet and can bring thunderstorms, rain or snow with cold fronts and drizzly rain followed by warmer conditions with warm fronts. Pressure systems form as air rises
Original Title
air masses fronts and pressure system presentation
An air mass is a large body of air with similar temperature and moisture characteristics that forms over source regions with consistent surface features. There are four main types of air masses: arctic, which brings very cold and windy weather; maritime polar, which brings rain or snow in winter and cool fog in summer; continental polar, which brings extremely cold and dry winter weather and cool dry summers; and maritime tropical and continental tropical, which bring warm weather with the maritime tropical being humid and the continental tropical being dry. Fronts define the boundaries where different air masses meet and can bring thunderstorms, rain or snow with cold fronts and drizzly rain followed by warmer conditions with warm fronts. Pressure systems form as air rises
An air mass is a large body of air with similar temperature and moisture characteristics that forms over source regions with consistent surface features. There are four main types of air masses: arctic, which brings very cold and windy weather; maritime polar, which brings rain or snow in winter and cool fog in summer; continental polar, which brings extremely cold and dry winter weather and cool dry summers; and maritime tropical and continental tropical, which bring warm weather with the maritime tropical being humid and the continental tropical being dry. Fronts define the boundaries where different air masses meet and can bring thunderstorms, rain or snow with cold fronts and drizzly rain followed by warmer conditions with warm fronts. Pressure systems form as air rises
An air mass is a large body of air where the TEMPERATURE and MOISTURE content are similar throughout.
How do air masses form?
An air mass is a large region of air with similar temperature and moisture characteristics. Air masses build over source regions that have relatively similar ground surface characteristics. Air masses that build over the land are called continental air masses while air masses that build over the open ocean are called maritime air masses. Air masses cover 100s to 1000s of kilometers of distance.
Moisture Content and Humidity
Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air. The airs ability to hold water vapor changes as the temperature of the air changes. Relative humidity is the ratio of the amount of water vapor in the air to the maximum amount of water vapor the air can hold at a set temperature. It is given as a percentage.
Factors affecting Humidity
Two factors that affect relative humidity are amount of water vapor and temperature. The more water vapor there is in the air, the higher the relative humidity is. If the amount of water vapor in the air stays the same but the temperature changes, relative humidity decreases as the temperature rises and increases as the temperature drops.
Dew Point The dew point is the temperature at which a gas condenses into a liquid. At its dew point, air is saturated, or holding all of the water that it can at the given temperature. If the humidity is high, then the dew point is low. If the humidity is low, then the dew point is high.
Describe the characteristics of each
type of air mass and tell what type of weather they will bring.
Arctic Air: - Very COLD and DRY - Brings very cold and windy weather
mP Maritime Polar -Cold and Humid -Brings rain and snow in winter and cool, foggy weather in summer
cP Continental Polar -Cold and Dry -Brings extremely cold and dry weather in winter, cool and dry in summer
mT Maritime Tropical - Warm and Humid - Brings hot, humid weather in the summer and mild, cloudy weather in winter
cT Continetal Tropical -Warm and Dry -Brings clear, dry and hot weather
How Do Air Masses Move?
Air masses build when the air stagnates over a region for several days/weeks. To move these huge regions of air, the weather pattern needs to change to allow the air mass to move. One major influence of air mass movement is the upper level winds associated with the jet stream. The jet stream wind is often referred to as a steering wind. The jet stream will help transport cold air toward lower latitudes and warm air toward high latitudes. Air masses modify once they move out of their source region. For example, a cold air mass will modify (warm up in this case) as it moves over warmer land in lower latitudes. The more intense sunlight in the lower latitudes also helps modify the cold air.
What is a front? The area (boundary) where two types of air masses meet.
COLD FRONT
What type of weather to expect:
Cold Front: Brings thunderstorms, heavy rain or snow. Cooler weather follows a cold front.
WARM FRONT
Warm Front: Brings drizzly rain
and are followed by clear, warmer weather
OCCLUDED FRONT
Occluded Front: Brings cooler
temperatures and large amounts of rain or snow.
STATIONARY FRONT (neither air mass is moving)
Stationary Front: Brings many
days of cloudy, rainy weather
Pressure Systems
What is Air Pressure?
Air Pressure is the measure of the force with which air molecules push on a surface. Air will either rise or sink near the Earths surface. As air is heated, molecules speed up and spread out, making warm air less dense. Less dense air rises. *Since warm air is less dense, it has a lower air pressure.
As air is cooled, molecules slow down and move closer
together, making cold air more dense. More dense air sinks. *Since cold air is more dense, it has a higher air pressure.
Low Pressure vs. High Pressure
Air ALWAYS moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. Sinking and rising air with the Coriolis Effect results in rotating high and low pressure systems.
Low Pressure Systems
As air is heated, molecules speed up and spread out, making warm air less dense. Less dense air rises. Air rises, and air coming in from the outside spirals inward toward the center and continues up. Air rises, cools, and condenses into clouds, often followed by precipitation.
High Pressure Systems
As air is cooled, molecules slow down and move closer together, making cold air more dense. More dense air sinks. Sinking air moves away from the center when it reaches the Earths surface. High pressure systems are usually associated with fair weather.
