AIR MASSES

An air mass is a large area of air with similar characteristics, the most important being temperature and dew point temperature. The air mass is defined by the source region of the air mass.

Maritime: If the source region is over water, the dew point will be higher and the air mass is considered maritime.

Continental: If the source region is over land, the air will be relatively dry so the air mass is considered continental.

There are four temperature characteristics defining the air mass' source region from coldest to warmest

  • Arctic
  • Polar
  • Tropical
  • Equatorial

    • We will use primarily polar and tropical. By combining these, there are four basic air masses:

  • cT Continental Tropical, or warm and dry
  • cP Continental Poloar, or cold and dry
  • mT Maritime Tropical, or Moist/Humid and warm
  • mP Maritime Poloar, or Moist/Humid and cold

    • An important quality of air masses is that they are modified by time and thus can be difficult to classify by only by temperature and dew point on a first inspection. There is a way of comparing two air masses. A front is defined as a narrow transition zone or boundary between two air masses.

    source region map

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