Air Masses & Fronts By: Melody Period: 4 This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA. What are airmasses? An air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature, location and water vapor content. What are the four types of airmasses? • • • • Maritime Continental Tropical Polar This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY. How and why an airmass comes about? • An airmass forms whenever the atmosphere remains in contact with a large, relatively uniform land or sea surface. Types of Air Masses • Air masses that forms over land is called continental = ( c ) • Air masses that forms over water is called maritime = (m) • Air masses that form at high latitudes (cold)= polar (p) • Air masses that form at low latitudes (warm)= tropical (t) This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA. Effects they have on people, land, animals Air masses have large volumes of air that have generally the same temperature and pressure. How often do the occur / region they occur? • The time period that they occur is not mentioneed. • Most weather occurs along the periphery of these airmasses which is knowm as fronts. • The region that they occur all depends on the type of airmass that it is. This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA. Fronts • Fronts are boundaries between two air masses of different temperature. This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA. Different types of weather fronts • Warm Fronts: occur when warm air replaces cold air. • Cold Fronts: occur when cold air replaces warm air. • Occluded Fronts: occur when a cold front over takes a warm front. • Stationary Fronts: occurs when a cold front meets a warm front, but there is not forward. ("standing still"). This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA. Bibliography • https://www.britannica.com/sci ence/air-mass • https://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxw ise/class/frntmass.html • https://www.nationalgeographic .org/encyclopedia/airmass/#:~:text=Tropical%20air%2 0masses%20form%20in,over%2 0land%20or%20over%20water.
