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In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and humidity. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to latitude and their continental or maritime source regions. Colder air masses are termed polar or arctic ...
A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For instance, cold fronts can bring bands of thunderstorms and cumulonimbus precipitation or be preceded by ...
The average mass of the atmosphere is about 5 quadrillion (5 × 10 15) tonnes or 1/1,200,000 the mass of Earth. According to the American National Center for Atmospheric Research , "The total mean mass of the atmosphere is 5.1480 × 10 18 kg with an annual range due to water vapor of 1.2 or 1.5 × 10 15 kg, depending on whether surface pressure ...
At 20 °C and 101.325 kPa, dry air has a density of 1.2041 kg/m 3. At 70 °F and 14.696 psi, dry air has a density of 0.074887 lb/ft 3. The following table illustrates the air density–temperature relationship at 1 atm or 101.325 kPa: [citation needed]
Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle, and is responsible for depositing fresh water on the planet. Approximately 505,000 cubic kilometres (121,000 cu mi) of water falls as precipitation each year: 398,000 cubic kilometres (95,000 cu mi) over oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometres (26,000 cu mi) over land. [ 4 ]
Atmospheric circulation. Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air and together with ocean circulation is the means by which thermal energy is redistributed on the surface of the Earth. The Earth's atmospheric circulation varies from year to year, but the large-scale structure of its circulation remains fairly constant.
The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth. It contains 80% of the total mass of the planetary atmosphere and 99% of the total mass of water vapor and aerosols, and is where most weather phenomena occur. [ 1 ] From the planetary surface of the Earth, the average height of the troposphere is 18 km (11 mi; 59,000 ft) in the ...
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. [ 1 ][ 2 ] More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological variables that are commonly measured are temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure ...