6.2: What are air masses? 1. What is an air mass? Is a large body of

6.2: What are air masses?
1. What is an air mass?
2. How many kinds of basic air
masses are there?
3. Air masses move because of
______.
4. What is a jet stream?
5. ________ may occur/happens
at the edge of an air mass.
6. What is a continental polar air
mass?
7. What is a continental tropical
air mass?
8. What is a maritime polar air
mass?
9. What is a maritime tropical
air mass?
10. What is a front?
11. What is a cold front?
12. What is a warm front?
13. What is a stationary front?
14. What is a cyclone?
15. How does air move in a
cyclone?
16. How does air move in an
anticyclone?
Vocabulary
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Air mass
Front
Cyclone
Is a large body of air with similar properties all through it.
4
Wind
A strong air current high above the ground.
Storms
Very little water evaporates from the land and ice near the
poles. So, an air mass from this area is cold and fairly dry.
A large hot desert can cause the air above it to be warm and
fairly dry.
Even though the air near the poles is cold, water vapor
evaporates into the air. An air mass forming over the ocean
near the poles is cold, but relatively moist.
Humid air has lots of moisture. Over tropical oceans or rain
forests, an air mass becomes warm and very humid/moist
because water can easily evaporate there.
A boundary between two air masses.
A cold front brings colder air into an area.
- When cooler air moves in, it forces warmer air to
move up quickly. This air creates cumulus clouds,
creating heavy precipitation.
A warm front brings warmer air to an area.
- Warmer air moves against cooler air. The warmer air
gradually rises above cooler air. Clouds are slow
moving and creating longer periods of rain.
A front that doesn’t move much or moves back and forth over
the same area.
A wind that spirals inward around an area of low pressure.
Air spins in a counterclockwise direction and flows into a
cyclone and rises.
Air spins in a clockwise direction and flows away from the
center.
Quick Summary
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A cold front often results in heavy, brief
precipitation, while a warm front often results
in slow-moving clouds and longer periods of
precipitation.
A cyclone is produced when warm air at the
low-pressure center rises and high-pressure air
moves in to take its place.