Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
An air mass originating over northern Siberia in winter may be indicated as "cA". [3] The stability of an air mass may be shown using a third letter, either "k" (air mass colder than the surface below it) or "w" (air mass warmer than the surface below it). [3] An example of this might be a polar air mass blowing over the Gulf Stream, denoted as ...
A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arisen from the same cause, usually an orogeny. [1] Mountain ranges are formed by a variety of geological processes, but most of the significant ones on Earth are the result of plate tectonics . [ 2 ]
A marine layer is an air mass that develops over the surface of a large body of water, such as an ocean or large lake, in the presence of a temperature inversion. The inversion itself is usually initiated by the cooling effect caused when cold water on the surface of the ocean interacts with a comparatively warm air mass. [1]
Maritime Polar form over cold oceans. Air Masses Meet When the sun heats the surface of the earth, the air near the surface is warmed and it begins to rise. Colder air then rushes in to replace the rising warm air. Because water responds to hot and cold temperatures in the exact same way the air does, the movements of warm and cool air may be ...
Water or various other chemicals may compose the droplets and crystals. On Earth, clouds are formed as a result of the saturation of an air mass when it is cooled to its dew point or when it gains sufficient moisture (usually in the form of water vapor) from an adjacent source to raise the dew point to the ambient temperature. There are many ...
Larger fetches provide the boundary layer with more time to become saturated with water vapor and for heat energy to move from the water to the air. As the air mass reaches the other side of the lake, the engine of rising and cooling water vapor pans itself out in the form of condensation and falls as snow, usually within 40 km (25 mi) of the ...
A warmer air mass moving over a cooler one can "shut off" any convection which may be present in the cooler air mass: this is known as a capping inversion. However, if this cap is broken, either by extreme convection overcoming the cap or by the lifting effect of a front or a mountain range, the sudden release of bottled-up convective energy ...
The Sun warms the ground, which in turn warms the air directly above it. The warmer air expands, becoming less dense than the surrounding air mass, and creating a thermal low. [4] [5] The mass of lighter air rises, and as it does, it cools due to its expansion at lower high-altitude pressures. It stops rising when it has cooled to the same ...