Republic of the Philippines

SAMAR STATE UNIVERSITY – MERCEDES CAMPUS

Brgy. Mercedes, Catbalogan City, Philippines 6700

AIR MASSES AND RELATED WEATHER

Compilation of project in meteorology

Submitted by:

Leslie P Ejedo

A.Y 2019
 Table of contents

Cover page----------------------------------------------------------------I

Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------1

Chapter discussion ----------------------------------------------------2

A. Learning objectives---------------------------------------3

B. Discussion and supplementary-----------------------4

 Fonts--------------------------------------------------5

 Cold air masses-----------------------------------6

 Summary --------------------------------------------7

C. Summary------------------------------------------------------8

D. Exercise/evaluation---------------------------------------9

References-----------------------------------------------------------------10
 Introduction

Air masses form over large surfaces with uniform temperatures

and humidity, called source regions. Low wind speeds let air

remain stationary long enough to take on the features of the source region, such

as heat or cold. When winds move air masses, they carry

their weather conditions (heat or cold, dry or moist) from the source region to a

new region. When the air mass reaches a new region, it might clash with another

air mass that has a different temperature and humidity. This can create a

severe storm.

Meteorologists identify air masses according to where they form over the

Earth. There are four categories for air masses: arctic, tropical, polar and

equatorial. Arctic air masses form in the Arctic region and are very cold. Tropical

air masses form in low-latitude areas and are moderately warm. Polar air masses

take shape in high-latitude regions and are cold. Equatorial air masses develop

near the Equator, and are warm.

Air masses are also identified based on whether they form over land or over

water. Maritime air masses form over water and are humid. Continental air

masses form over land and are dry.

Therefore, an air mass that develops over northern Canada is called a

continental polar air mass and is cold and dry. One that forms over the Indian

Ocean is called a maritime tropical air mass and is warm and humid.
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Chapter Discussion

An air mass is a large body of air with relatively uniform characteristics

(temperature and humidity). Air masses are classified according to their source

region and track. There are six air masses which can affect the weather in the

UK – Polar Maritime is the most common, but we can also experience Polar

Continental, Tropical Maritime, Tropical Continental, Arctic Maritime and

Returning Polar Maritime air..

Southward moving air is warmed from below as it passes over warmer

land and water and becomes more unstable, eventually rising and producing

convective cloud – eg puffy cumulus clouds. When you look at these clouds you

can sometimes watch the air rising and the cloud bubbling up. In contrast,

northward flowing air is cooled from below and becomes more stable.

Air travelling over the sea is moistened and we refer to this as ‘maritime’ air,

whereas the moisture in air with a continental track hardly changes and so this is

known as ‘continental’ air. It’s easy to think that the North East of the UK always

experiences Polar Continental air, whilst the South West always experiences

Tropical Maritime air etc., but this is not the case. Usually, the whole country

experiences the same air mass at the same time. A front is where two air masses

meet.
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A. LEARNING OBJECTIVE

 Define air masses

 To know about types of air masses

 To know how air masses mold

B. DISCUSSION SUPPLEMENTARY

I. Air masses

 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.

 can cover hundreds of thousands of square miles.

 there can be small variations

II. Types of air masses.

 cP continental polar cold, dry, stable

 cT continental tropical hot, dry, stable air aloft--unstable surface air

 mP maritime polar cool, moist, and unstable

 mT maritime tropical warm, moist, usually unstable

 Air masses in the U.S. include

 cP -- wintertime bitter cold can extent to Southern US and even

Florida causing crop damage. Require long, clear nights, which

means strong radiational cooling of air near the surface. A stable air

mass. Little moisture added so air is dry

 mP -- Winter cP air moves over a region such as the NE Pacific,

picking up some warmth and moisture from the warmer ocean. In

the case of the Pacific NW mountains force the air to rise

(orographic lifting) causing rain.

 mT -- wintertime source for the SW US is the subtropical East

Pacific Ocean. mT air that influences weather east of the Rocky

Mountains comes from the Gulf of Mexico, but only influences

winter weather in the SE states. Occasionally, slow moving weather

systems in SW flow aloft can draw up moisture at mid and low

levels producing precipitation.

 cT -- Continental tropical air usually only influences the US in

summertime as warm, dry air is pumped up off of the Mexican

Plateau. It is usually fairly stable and dry, and if it becomes

stagnant over the midwest, results in a drought. Deaths associated

 with the 1995 heat wave in the midwest were the result of cT and

mT air which stagnated over the central and eastern part of the US

this last summer.

III. Fronts
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>Front is the transition zone between air masses with distinctly

different properties.

>The differences in density are most often caused by temperature

differences. Separate air masses with different humidities as well.

TYPES OF FONTS

 A stationary front is characterized by no movement of the transition zone

between two air masses.

 A cold front is cold air displacing warm air.

 A warm front is warm air displacing cool air diagram. Shallow leading edge

warm air must "overrun" cold air--cold air recedes moves slow 10-15 knts.

IV. Effect of air masses in weather

 Air masses can affect the weather because of different air

masses that are different in temperature, density, and moisture.

 When two different air masses meet a front forms. This is one

way air masses effect our weather.

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V. Cold Air Mass

 With a cold front, a colder air mass is replacing a warmer air mass.

A warm front is the opposite affect in that warm air replaces cold

air. There is also a stationary front, which, as the name implies,

means the boundary between two air masses does not move.

VI. Air masses affect North America

 Air is not the same everywhere. In North America, for example, cold

and dry air covering thousands of miles flows south from the Arctic,

especially in winter, and warm moist air flows south from the Gulf of

Mexico. These different types air are called air masses.

VII. Air mass is cold and dry

 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.

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C.SUMMARY

 Maritime air masses are going to produce moist weather

because they occur over oceans, and oceans are filled with water! The air

blowing over the ocean regions, either arctic, polar or tropical, picks up that

moisture as it travels along. In maritime arctic and polar regions, this moist air is

cool (as you probably expected), and the maritime tropical air mass produces the

warm, humid conditions you would expect along the tropics, like Florida and the

Caribbean.

In contrast, continental air masses produce dry weather. This is because

the continents just can't compete with the oceans when it comes to moisture! The

continental arctic and polar air masses produce dry, cold weather in the winter

and pleasant weather conditions in the summer.

D.EXERCISE EVALUATION

QUIZ
REFERENCE

The Great British Weather

https://prezi.com/vleg1y7dnhwb/how-do-air-masses-affect-weather/

https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/airmass

https://scied.ucar.edu/shortcontent/air-masses

https://okfirst.mesonet.org/train/meteorology/AirMasses.html

http://mrp.ase.ro/no103/f2.pdf
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