GEOG 155 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Intertropical Convergence Zone, Warm Front, Atmospheric Instability
Document Summary
Source regions: extensive geographic areas with relatively uniform characteristics of temperature and moisture. Air mass: a very large body of air with relatively uniform qualities of temperature, density, and humidity. Classifying air masses: have letter codes that reflect the type of surface and the general location of their source regions. Unstable air in maritime tropical (mt) air mass or continental tropical (ct) air mass is warmed to a height of about 3000m. Some air cools in continental polar (cp) or maritime polar (mp) air masses. Continental arctic (ca) air masses form at higher latitudes than the polar air masses do, and maritime equatorial (me) are founding eh lowest latitudes astride the equator. Precipitation originates from parcels of moist air that have been adiabatically cooled below their condensation level: cooling is done through the lifting of air from the vicinity of the surface to higher levels in the atmosphere.
