The source region of an air mass defines its main characteristics. ... Parts of the Earth’s surface where the air can stagnate and gradually gain properties of the underlying surface are called source regions.
What are the four source regions for air masses?
Air masses are commonly classified according to four basic source regions with respect to latitude. These are Polar (cold), Arctic (very cold), Equatorial (warm and very moist), and Tropical (warm) .
What is the best source region for an air mass?
The best source regions for air masses are large flat areas where air can be stagnant long enough to take on the characteristics of the surface below .
What is the source region for mT air masses?
Maritime Tropical (mT) Air Masses
mT air masses from Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico is the primary source region for the eastern U.S.
What is the best source region for an air mass quizlet?
A good source region for an air mass would be: generally flat areas of uniform composition with light surface winds . The origin of cP and cA air masses that enter the United States is: Northern Canada and Alaska.
What are the 5 types of air masses?
The air masses in and around North America include the continental arctic (cA), maritime polar (mP), maritime tropical (mT), continental tropical (cT), and continental polar (cP) air masses .
What are the four characteristics An air mass can have?
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.
What happens when air masses meet?
When two different air masses come into contact, they don’t mix . They push against each other along a line called a front. When a warm air mass meets a cold air mass, the warm air rises since it is lighter. At high altitude it cools, and the water vapor it contains condenses.
What are characteristics of an air mass source region?
Where an air mass receives it’s characteristics of temperature and humidity is called the source region. Air masses are slowly pushed along by high-level winds, when an air mass moves over a new region, it shares its temperature and humidity with that region.
What is the purpose of an air mass?
In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and water vapor content . Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to latitude and their continental or maritime source regions.
What are the two things that we use to classify air masses?
What two characteristics are used to classify air masses? The two characteristics that are used to classify air masses, are temperature and humidity .
What are two conditions you need for air mass formation?
What conditions are necessary for an air mass to form? It must stay over a land or sea surface long enough to acquire the temp/humidity/stability characteristics of the surface below . They are associated with source regions, they must be extensive, physically uniform, and have stationary air.
Which type of air masses have the greatest effect on weather in North America?
Answer. Continental Polar and Maritime Tropical air masses have the greatest effect on weather conditions in much of the United States.
Which is the coldest air mass?
The coldest air masses are Arctic air masses . These air masses originate at the poles of the Earth in Greenland and Antarctica. Since these areas of...
What is the relationship between air masses and fronts?
An air mass is a body of air with a relatively constant temperature and moisture content over a significant altitude. Air masses typically cover hundreds, thousands, or millions of square kilometers. A front is the boundary at which two air masses of different temperature and moisture content meet .
What is the origin of the cP and cA air masses?
Continental polar (cP) or continental arctic (cA) air masses are cold, dry, and stable. These air masses originate over northern Canada and Alaska as a result of radiational cooling . They move southward, east of Rockies into the Plains, then eastward.
