According to Strahler (2006), air mass refers to a regional scale volume of air with horizontal layers of uniform temperature and humidity. These layers are formed by episodes of high pressure when weak wind allows air to remain for several days on a flat area having even characteristics. Air masses cover hundreds of thousands of square miles and are defined by the surface that is below them. This is because the Earth affects the characteristics of air when it touches it. The various types of air masses are classified depending on the (1) latitude, (2) continental or maritime source region (characteristics), and (3) temperature. For characteristics, we have tropical “T” and polar “A.” A tropical air mass is formed over the ocean or land (Oliver, 2005). Formed over the ocean, a tropical air mass includes warm, moist and unstable air. When it is formed over land, the characteristics are hot, dry, and unstable. On the other hand, polar air masses form under high pressure in the polar and sub-polar regions. These characteristics include cool, moist (sometimes dry), and unstable (wet) or stable (land).
Depending on the topography of the region and the temperature, air masses will be heated or cooled from below. The heated air tends to the south, leading to instability as the air near the ground rises, mixing with the air column (Barry & Chorley, 2003). The weather of a given region is highly affected by the changes that occur within the air mass over a specific period. The changes can also be attributed to the interaction with fronts, the boundary between two contracting air masses.
The North American continent experiences numerous changes in its weather patterns. These changes can be attributed to the massive interaction of air masse...
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...uth of the US, raising the relative humidity. Eventually, the air mass leads to the development of fog and precipitation in the southern side of Northern America.
- Continental Tropical Air Mass
This last air mass mostly affects the southern side of the United States. It develops on the even surface in the subtropical region. It is characterized by hot and dry weather with clear skies. It is unstable at lower levels and stable at upper levels. The same condition is experienced in the Sahara Desert in Africa. This region is used for satellite because it hardly experiences weather changes (Mesinger et al. 2006). From this information, one can understand that air masses are responsible for the weather experienced in the North America in both summer and winter. Though the effects may vary depending on the region, these changes contribute to the global weather patterns.
National Weather Service. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, 5 Jan. 2010. Web. 2 Feb. 2010. .
A phenomenon called the prevailing westerlies is another natural effect that changes the climate of Georgia. The prevailing westerlies are one of the five primary wind zones or belts, that change our atmosphere's regular circulatory system. These strong heavy winds strike most of the time on the southeastern side of the U.S causing intense gusts in some areas like
When passing through the northeastern United States tropical cyclones are restructured by the course of extratropical transition. This is caused by the contact with strong westerlies that are associated with a mid latitude trough and causes an enhance in storm forward motion, vertical wind shear, and vorticity. An increase in storm forward motion also plays a role in the wind speed that is produced by the hurricane. Where the circulating winds and the entire storm is moving in a matching direction, the wind speed is amplified by the forward movement of the storm. In the Northern Hemisphere, the right part of a hurricane, looking in the way of the path in which it is moving forward, has the greater wind speeds and thus is the more dangerous part of the storm. Strong vertical wind shear within the troposphere also reduces tropical cyclone development. This makes the e...
The warming of the air brings with it a change in weather patterns across the globe. This change in weather patterns will include an increase in weather extremes such as, storms and drought. The type of extreme depends on a specific region with drought expected to increase in the dry tropics and with the frequency of tropical storms and rainfall expected to increase in the wet tropics.
Lackmann, Gary. Midlatitude Synoptic Meteorology: Dynamics, Analysis, and Forecasting. Boston, MA: American Meteorological Society, 2011. Print.
According to NASA, climate models are “aimed at the development of coupled atmosphere-ocean models for simulating Earth 's climate system.” In greater depth, the Universite Catholique de Louvan provides the following definition:
An El Nino happens in intervals of 3-7 years. The formation of this is related to the Pacific Southern Oscillation which is also the cycling of the Pacific Ocean circulation. The Pacific Southern Oscillation (the change of atmospheric pressures) happens when the easterly trade winds collapse, weaken, or even reverse. As this happens, the upwelling stops. The slight weakening of the winds cause a small change in sea surface temperatures, and the wind and pressure changes increase. The warm water of the western Pacific Ocean flow eastward and sea surface temperatures increase on the western coast of South America. When this occurs, the wet weather conditions (originally in the western Pacific) move east, and dry conditions (normally in the east) appear in the west.
in), but high humidity results in fog and dew. In the north deeep canyons have
Solomon, S. (Ed.). (2007). Climate change 2007-the physical science basis: Working group I contribution to the fourth assessment report of the IPCC (Vol. 4, pg 501). Cambridge University Press.
Many effects are occurring due to these temperature rises such as increased droughts which are expected to keep getting longer and more severe in the future. Extreme weather events, in particular storms are becoming stronger due to the upper layers of the ocean becoming warmer, higher air temperatures and higher evaporation rates. In the future is expected that heavier snowstorms and rainstorms will happen more often, and these storms could increase in intensity as the climate becomes warmer.
Air is composed of molecules. Air is matter. It has mass and takes up space. Air is composed of different gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases. Air molecules are in constant motion. As they move, they come in contact with surfaces. Air molecules push and press on the surfaces they contact. The amount of force per unit area that air molecules exert on a surface is called air pressure. (What is Air Pressure 6) Air pressure is caused by all of the air molecules in the Earth's atmosphere pressing down on the Earth's surfaces. We can measure air pressure to help us predict weather conditions around the world. Temperature also affects air pressure because air contracts when it cools and expands when it is heated. So if air above a region of Earth cools, it does not extend to as high an altitude as the surrounding air. In this case, its pressure at higher temperature is lower than in the surroundings even when the pressure at the surface is the same as in surrounding areas. Then air flows into the cooler region at high altitude, making the total weight of air above the region greater than in the surroundings. This is a "high". The cool air descends to the earth's surface. Near the surface, the falling air spreads out,
Climate change is evidenced through shifts in the weather patterns such as winds, humidity and temperatures over certain durations. Natural climate changes occur less frequently and they are triggered by factors related to geographical aspects as well as solar radiation. The earth’s movement on the orbit triggers changes in climate, causing some areas to have higher temperatures than usual, while others are significantly cold depending on the position of the earth on the orbit. The heat from the sun causes changes in the stratospheric ozone and it increases the amount of greenhouse gases. Heat from the oceanic crust also contributes to warming as a result of episodic hydrothermal venting (Liao & Sandeberg, 2012).
a change in the water cycle. Some places may experience more rain. Warmer temperatures will
The amount of water that is on earth at any one time remains fairly constant because the water is moving form one reservoir into another such as river to ocean or ocean to atmosphere. This cycle involves the exchange of energy causes a change in temperature. This is why when evaporation occurs, it takes energy from its surroundings and cools the environment. While condensation occurs energy is released and the surrounding environment becomes warmer. The atmosphere is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and other gasses that surround the earth. The atmosphere is made up of five layers known as the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the thermosphere, and the exosphere. The troposphere is the lowest layer of the earth’s atmosphere; it is also where all weather on earth takes place. The stratosphere is the second layer of the atmosphere, right above the troposphere. Above the stratosphere is the mesosphere and above that is the troposphere. The uppermost region of earth’s atmosphere is the exosphere. The air in the exosphere is extremely thin and almost the same as space. One of the many reasons the earths atmosphere is important is because it blocks