Air masses and fronts • 1. An air mass is a wide-spread section of the troposphere with uniform temperature and humidity (moisture) • 2. The source region is the geographic location the air mass developed over. – If air settles over one location for a long time, it develops the characteristic temperature and moisture of the area. Uwsp.edu
Air masses and fronts. 1. An air mass is a wide-spread section of the troposphere with uniform temperature and humidity (moisture). 2. The source region is the geographic location the air mass developed over. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Air masses and fronts
• 1. An air mass is a wide-spread section of the troposphere with uniform temperature and humidity (moisture)
• 2. The source region is the geographic location the air mass developed over. – If air settles over one
location for a long time, it develops the characteristic temperature and moisture of the area.
Uwsp.edu
• Because temperature changes so much with latitude, tropical areas are warm and polar are cold.
• Oceans (maritime) carry a lot of water vapor
• On land, (continental) there is little water and the air is dry.
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Page 13 ESRT uses symbols for the air masses
• Dry air is small ‘cf’ or continental
• Moist air is small ‘m’ for maritime
• Cold air is ‘P’ for Polar and REALLY cold air is ‘A’ for arctic.
• Warm air is ‘T’ for tropical
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And to practice:
• 1. Bringing those two characteristics together, the air masses may be described. For the following, identify the characteristics:cT:mT:cP:mP:cA:
• 2. The characteristics of the air mass is due to the __________________ region, or area where it formed. For each of the following locations create our ______ _________ (and weather), identify the characteristics of the air, using the terms continental, maritime, tropical, arctic and polar.Gulf of Mexico:Central Mexico:Great Plains (winter):Central Canada:Northern Atlantic:
Review book Chapter 8 pages 199-200Air masses and polar fronts: http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/navigation/chapter20.cfm https://castlelearning.com/review/login/login.aspx for air masses
• Stationary fronts may last for days because the 2 air masses just don’t really move. Usually, the characteristics are similar to the warm front, just prolonged.
• Again, it is the warmer air that is pushed up because it is less dense.