What are the different types of air masses what are the characteristics of each?

What are the different types of air masses what are the characteristics of each?

• Continental air masses are characterized by dry air near the surface while maritime air masses are moist.
• Polar air masses are characterized by cold air near the surface while tropical air masses are warm or hot. Arctic air masses are extremely cold.

What is air mass characteristics?

Air Mass. Air Mass is an extremely large body of air whose properties of temperature and moisture content (humidity), at any given altitude, are fairly similar in any horizontal direction.

What are the five major types of air masses?

These are Polar (cold), Arctic (very cold), Equatorial (warm and very moist), and Tropical (warm). In the United States the major air mass types are typically continental Polar, maritime Polar, continental Tropical, and maritime Tropical.

Where do air masses come from?

An air mass forms whenever the atmosphere remains in contact with a large, relatively uniform land or sea surface for a time sufficiently long to acquire the temperature and moisture properties of that surface. The Earth’s major air masses originate in polar or subtropical latitudes.

What are the two main characteristics of air masses?

Air masses have fairly uniform temperature and moisture content in horizontal direction (but not uniform in vertical). Air masses are characterized by their temperature and humidity properties. The properties of air masses are determined by the the underlying surface properties where they originate.

What are the different types of air masses?

There are six main types of air masses that affect the British Isles. We classify these air masses primarily by the area in which they originate. They are classified as continental or maritime – dependent on whether they originate over land or sea – and arctic or antarctic, equatorial, tropical, or polar,…

How are continental polar and maritime polar air masses classified?

Air masses are also classified according to the type of surface underlying it, which can be continental (c) or maritime (m). Continental Arctic (cA) Air Masses are characterized by very cold & dry weather. Continental Polar (cP) Air Masses are characterized by cold & dry weather.

What are the boundaries between the air masses?

The boundaries between air masses are called fronts. Generally, there are four types of air masses that can be further categorized with specifics of where they occur and over water or land. The 4 types of air masses are polar, tropical, continental and maritime. Their classification depends on their location where they are formed.

What are the characteristics of tropical air masses?

They cover vast areas of the South Atlantic, Indian, and South Pacific Oceans. With their location near the Equator (with its high levels of incoming solar radiation), combined with the ocean surface, Maritime Tropical Air Masses are characterized by very hot and humid weather conditions.