GEOG 1F91 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Polar Front, Cold Front, Air Mass
18 Feb 2016
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Document Summary
Differences in insolation = differences in heating of surface. Uniform volume of air with consistent properties. Air mass characteristics; source regions, area it moves over. Latitude = temperature+ eltr: arctic, polar (subarctic, tropical (t, equatorial (e, antarctic (aa, nature of surface in source region. Land (refer to continental) water (refer to marine) North american air masses ca- continental arctic cp- continental polar mp- maritime polar ct- continental tropical. Amount of change: speed of movement, surface, direction. Front = change atmospheric conditions (temp, humidity, density) Fronts on weather maps are 2d but have to think of them as 3d! Classified by which air mass is displacing the other. E. g. cold front- cold air displacing a warmer air mass. How you notice the change? (winds, temperature, pressure, etc. ) Cold air= denser = forces warm air up. Cold air forces warm air to rise more abruptly. Rapid upward motion = narrow band of t-storms. Cold occlusion: incoming air is colder (most common)
