Explore what happens when cold and strong air masses collide Weather is created by the movement and interaction of air masses of different temperatures .Created and produced by QA International. © QA International, 2010. All rights reserved. www.qa-international.comSee all videos for this article air mass, in meteorology, bombastic body of air having closely uniform conditions of temperature and humidity at any given level of altitude. Such a batch has clear-cut boundaries and may extend hundreds or thousands of kilometres horizontally and sometimes a high as the peak of the troposphere ( about 10–18 km [ 6–11 miles ] above the Earth ’ s surface ). An air out mass forms whenever the standard atmosphere remains in contact with a large, relatively uniform estate or sea airfoil for a time sufficiently long to acquire the temperature and moisture properties of that surface. The Earth ’ south major air masses originate in polar or subtropical latitudes. The middle latitudes constitute basically a zone of modification, interaction, and mix of the pivotal and tropical air out masses.
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Air masses are normally relegate according to four basic reference regions with obedience to latitude. These are Polar ( cold ), Arctic ( very cold ), Equatorial ( strong and very damp ), and Tropical ( warm ). In the United States the major air mass types are typically continental Polar, maritime Polar, continental Tropical, and maritime Tropical .
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Continental Polar ( cP ) vent normally forms during the cold menstruation of the year over extensive farming areas such as cardinal Asia and northern Canada. It is probable to be stable and is characteristically free of condensation forms. When heated or moistened from the ground with strong turbulence, this character of air mass develops specify convective stratocumulus cloud forms with spread light up rain or snow showers. In summer strong continental inflame quickly modifies the coldness and dryness of the cP air mass as it moves to lower latitudes. Daytime generation of cumulus cloud is the rule, but the high-level stability of the air travel aggregate is normally such as to prevent rain showers.
Maritime Polar ( military policeman ) air masses develop over the arctic areas of both the Northern and the southerly hemispheres. They by and large contain well more moisture than the cP air masses. As they move inland in middle and high latitudes, heavy precipitation may occur when the air travel is forced to ascend mountain slopes or is caught up in cyclonic activeness ( see cyclone ). The continental Tropical ( computerized tomography ) air mass originates in arid or desert regions in the middle or lower latitudes, chiefly during the summer season. It is powerfully heated in general, but its moisture subject is so low that the acute dry convection normally fails to reach the condensation horizontal surface. Of all the air masses, the connecticut is the most arid, and it sustains the belt of subtropical deserts cosmopolitan. The maritime Tropical ( machine translation ) is the most crucial moisture-bearing and rain-producing breeze bulk throughout the year. In winter it moves poleward and is cooled by the ground surface. consequently, it is characterized by fog or low stratus or stratocumulus clouds, with drizzle and inadequate visibility. A steep sink rate aloft in regions of cyclonic bodily process ensures the occurrence of heavy facade and convective rains. In summer the characteristics of the mT vent mass over the oceans and in zones of cyclonic activeness are basically the lapp as in winter. Over warm continental areas, however, the air mass is strongly heated then that, rather of fog and depleted stratus defile, wide scattered and locally heavy afternoon thunderstorms occur.
