Classification Of Air Masses And

Fronts | Geography Optional |

UPSC
Shikher GoyalFebruary 12, 2019

Classification of Air masses and Fronts | Geography Optional |

UPSC – IAS
Air Masses
Characteristics Air Masses
Origin of Air Masses
Source Regions of Air Masses
Classification of Air Masses
Movement and Modification of Air Masses
North American Air Masses
FRONTS
Types of Fronts
(Cold, Warm, Stationary, and Occluded)
Cold Fronts
Warm Fronts
Stationary Fronts
Occluded Fronts
Air Masses, Fronts, and Major Atmospheric Disturbances

Classification of Air masses and Fronts | Geography

Optional | UPSC – IAS

Air Masses

Although the troposphere is a continuous body of mixed gases

that surrounds the planet, it is by no means a uniform blanket of
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 air. Instead, it is composed of many large parcels of air that are
distinct from one another. Such large parcels are referred to as air
masses.

Characteristics Air Masses

To be recognized as a distinct air mass, a parcel of air must meet

three requirements:

It must be large. A typical air mass is more than 1600

kilometers (1000 miles) across and several kilometers deep
(from Earth’s surface to the top of the air mass).
It must have uniform properties in the horizontal dimension.
This means that at any given altitude in the air mass, its physical
characteristics:- primarily temperature, humidity, and
stability; are relatively homogeneous.
It must travel as a unit. It must be distinct from the
surrounding air, and when it moves it must retain its original
characteristics and not be torn apart by differences in airflow.

Origin of Air Masses

An air mass develops its characteristics when it stagnates

or remains over a uniform land or sea surface long enough to
acquire the temperature/humidity/stability characteristics of
the surface below.
This stagnation needs to last for only a few days if the
underlying surface has prominent temperature and moisture
characteristics. Stable air is more likely to remain stagnant for
a few days than unstable air, so regions with anticyclonic
(high pressure) conditions commonly form air masses.

Source Regions of Air Masses

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 The formation of air masses is usually associated with what are
called source regions: regions of Earth’s surface that are
particularly well suited to generate air masses. Such regions must
be extensive, physically uniform, and associated with air that is
stationary or anticyclonic.

Ideal source regions are – ocean surfaces and extensive flat

land areas that have a uniform covering of snow, forest, or
desert.
Air masses rarely form over the irregular terrain of mountain
ranges.
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 Image portrays the principal recognized source regions for air
masses that affect North America. Warm air masses can form in
any season over the waters of the southern North Atlantic, the
Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean Sea, and the southern North Pacific,
and in summer, they can form over the deserts of the southwestern
United States and northwestern Mexico. Cold air masses develop
over the northern portions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and
over the snow-covered lands of north-central Canada.

It may well be that the concept of source regions is of more

theoretical value than actual value. A broader view, one
subscribed to by many atmospheric scientists, holds that air masses
can originate almost anywhere in the low or high latitudes but rarely
in the midlatitudes due to the prevailing westerlies where persistent
wind would prevent air mass formation.

Classification of Air Masses

Air masses are classified on the basis of source region. The

latitude of the source region correlates directly with the
temperature of the air mass, and the nature of the surface
strongly influences the humidity content of the air mass. Thus,

A low-latitude air mass is warm or hot

A high-latitude one is cool or cold.

If the air mass develops over a continental surface, it is likely to

be dry; if it originates over an ocean, it is usually moist. A one- or
two-letter code is generally used to identify air masses. Although
some authorities recognize other categories, the basic
classification is sixfold are as follows:-
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 Movement and Modification of Air Masses

Some air masses remain in their source region for long periods,
even indefinitely. In such cases, the weather associated with the air
mass persists with little variation. Our interest, however, is in masses
that leave their source region and move into other regions,
particularly into the midlatitudes. When an air mass departs from
its source region, its structure begins to change. This change is due
in part to thermal modification (warming or cooling from below),
in part to dynamic modification (uplift, subsidence,
convergence, turbulence), and perhaps also in part to addition
or subtraction of moisture.

Once it leaves its source area, an air mass modifies the weather of
the regions into which it moves: it takes source-region
characteristics into other regions.
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 A midwinter outburst of continental polar (cP) air from northern
Canada sweeps down across the central part of North America.
With a source-region temperature of −46°C (−50°F) around Great
Slave Lake, the air mass has warmed to −34°C (−30°F) by the time it
reaches Winnipeg, Manitoba, and it continues to warm as it moves
southward. Throughout its southward course, the air mass
becomes warmer, but it also brings some of the coldest weather
that each of these places will receive all winter. Thus, the air mass is
modified, but it also modifies the weather in all regions it passes
through. Temperature, of course, is only one of the characteristics
modified by a moving air mass. There are also modifications in
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 humidity and stability.

North American Air Masses

The North American continent is a prominent area of air mass

interaction. The lack of mountains trending east to west permits
polar air to sweep southward and tropical air to flow northward
unhindered by terrain, particularly over the eastern two-thirds of the
continent. In the western part of the continent, though, air masses
moving off the Pacific are impeded by the prominent north– south
trending mountain ranges.

Continental polar (cP) – Air masses develop in central and northern

Canada, and Arctic (A) air masses originate farther north and so are
colder and drier than cP air masses – both are dominant features in
winter with their cold, dry, stable nature. Maritime polar (mP) air from
the Pacific in winter can bring cloudiness and heavy precipitation to
the mountainous west coastal regions. In summer, cool Pacific mP air
produces fog and low stratus clouds along the coast. North Atlantic
mP air masses are also cool, moist, and unstable, but except for
occasional incursions into the mid-Atlantic coastal region, Atlantic
mP air does not affect North America because the prevailing
circulation of the atmosphere  is westerly.

Maritime tropical (mT) air from the Atlantic/Caribbean/ Gulf of

Mexico is warm, moist, and unstable. It strongly influences weather
and climate east of the Rockies in the United States, southern
Canada, and much of Mexico, serving as the principal precipitation
source in this broad region. It is more prevalent in summer than in
winter, bringing periods of uncomfortable humid heat. Pacific mT air
originates over water in areas of anticyclonic subsidence, and so it
tends to be cooler, drier, and more stable than Atlantic mT air; it is felt
only in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico,
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 where it may produce coastal fog and moderate orographic rainfall
where forced to ascend mountain slopes. It is also the source of
some summer rains in the southwestern interior.

Continental tropical (cT) air is relatively unimportant in North

America because its source region is not extensive. In summer, hot,
very dry, unstable cT air surges into the southern Great Plains area
on occasion, bringing heat waves and dry conditions.

Equatorial (E) air affects North America only in association with

hurricanes. It is similar to mT air except that E air provides an even
more copious source of rain than does mT air because of high
humidity and instability.

FRONTS

When unlike air masses meet, they do not mix readily; instead, a
boundary zone called a front develops between them. A front is
not a simple two-dimensional boundary. A typical front is a narrow
three-dimensional transition zone several kilometers or even
tens of kilometers wide. Within this zone, the properties of the air
change rapidly.

The frontal concept was developed by Norwegian

meteorologists during World War I, and the term front was coined
because these scientists considered the clash between unlike air
masses to be analogous to a confrontation between opposing armies
along a battle front. As the more “aggressive” air mass advances at
the expense of the other, some mixing of the two occurs within the
frontal zone, but for the most part the air masses retain their
separate identities as one is displaced by the other.

Types of Fronts
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 (Cold, Warm, Stationary, and Occluded)

The most conspicuous difference between air masses is

usually temperature. A cold front forms where an advancing
cold air mass meets and displaces warmer air (see image),
whereas a warm front forms where an advancing warm air
mass meets colder air (see image).
In both cases, there is warm air on one side of the front and
cool air on the other, with a fairly abrupt temperature gradient
between.
Air masses may also have different densities, humidity
levels, wind patterns, and stability, and so these factors can
have a steep gradient through the front as well. In some
cases, a front may remain stationary for a few hours or even
a few days.
More commonly, however, a front is in more or less constant
motion. Usually one air mass is displacing the other; thus, the
front advances in the direction dictated by the movement of the
more active air mass. Regardless of which air mass is
advancing, it is always the warmer air that rises over the
cooler.
The warmer, lighter air is inevitably forced aloft, and the
cooler, denser air mass functions as a wedge over which the
lifting occurs. As you can see in both the images fronts “lean”
or slope upward from the surface, and it is along this slope
that the warmer air rises and cools adiabatically to form
clouds and often precipitation.
Indeed, fronts lean so much that they are much closer to
horizontal features than vertical ones. The slope of a typical
front averages about 1:150, meaning that 150 kilometers away
from the surface position of the front, the height of the front is
only 1 kilometer above the ground.
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 Because of this very low angle of slope (less than 1°), the
steepness shown in most diagrams of fronts is greatly
exaggerated. Notice that the “leading edge” of a cold front
precedes its higher altitude “trailing edge,” whereas a warm
front leans “forward” so that the higher altitude part of the front
is ahead of its lower altitude “trailing edge.”

Cold Fronts

Image Explanation: A cold front forms when a cold air mass is

actively underriding a warm air mass. As a cold front advances,
the warm air ahead of it is forced upward. This displacement
often creates cloudiness and relatively heavy precipitation along
and immediately behind the groundlevel position of the front. (In
this diagram, the vertical scale has been exaggerated.)

Because of friction with the ground, the advance of the lower

portion of a cold air mass is slowed relative to the upper portion. As
a result, a cold front tends to become steeper as it moves forward
and usually develops a protruding “nose” a few hundred meters
above the ground.

The average cold front is twice as steep as the average

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 warm front. Moreover, cold fronts normally move faster than
warm fronts because the dense, cold air mass easily
displaces the lighter, warm air.

This combination of steeper slope and faster advance leads to

rapid lifting and adiabatic cooling of the warm air ahead of the
cold front. The rapid lifting often makes the warm air very
unstable, and the result is blustery and violent weather along the
cold front.

Vertically developed clouds, such as cumulonimbus clouds,

are common, with considerable turbulence and showery
precipitation.
Both clouds and precipitation tend to be concentrated along
and immediately behind the ground-level position of the front.
Precipitation is usually of higher intensity but shorter duration
than that associated with a warm front.
On a weather map, the ground-level position of a cold front is
shown either by a blue line or a solid line studded at intervals
with solid triangles that extend in the direction toward which the
front is moving.

Warm Fronts

Image Explanation – A warm front forms when a warm air mass
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 is actively overriding a cold air mass. As warm air rises above
cooler air, widespread cloudiness and precipitation develop
along and in advance of the ground-level position of the front.
Higher and less dense clouds are often dozens or hundreds of
kilometers ahead of the ground-level position of the front. (In
this diagram, the vertical scale has been exaggerated.)

The slope of a typical warm front is more gentle than that of a

cold front, averaging about 1:200. As the warm air pushes against
and rises over the retreating cold air, it cools adiabatically, usually
resulting in clouds and precipitation.

Because the frontal uplift is very gradual, clouds form slowly

and turbulence is limited. High-flying cirrus clouds may signal the
approaching front many hours before it arrives. As the front comes
closer, the clouds become lower, thicker, and more extensive,
typically developing into altocumulus or altostratus. Precipitation
usually occurs broadly;

It is likely to be protracted and gentle, without much

convective activity. If the rising air is inherently unstable,
however, precipitation can be showery and even violent. Most
precipitation falls ahead of the ground-level position of the
moving front.
The ground-level position of a warm front is portrayed on a
weather map either by a red line or by a solid line along which
solid semicircles are located at regular intervals, with the
semicircles extending in the direction toward which the front is
moving

Stationary Fronts

When neither air mass displaces the other or if a cold front or

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 warm front “stalls” their common boundary is called a
stationary front. It is difficult to generalize about the weather
along such a front, but often gently rising warm air produces limited
precipitation similar to that along a warm front.

As Image shows, stationary fronts are portrayed on a

weather map by a combination of warm and cold front
symbols, alternating on opposite sides of the line—cold air is
opposite the triangles, and warm air opposite the half circles.

Occluded Fronts

A fourth type of front, called an occluded front, is formed when a

cold front overtakes a warm front. Occluded fronts are shown on a
weather map by a combination of warm and cold front symbols,
alternating on the same side of the line.

Air Masses, Fronts, and Major Atmospheric

Disturbances

We will now turn our attention to the major kinds of atmospheric

disturbances that occur within the general circulation. Most of
these disturbances involve unsettled and sometimes violent
atmospheric conditions and are referred to as storms.

Some, however, produce calm, clear, quiet weather that is quite

the opposite of stormy. Some of these disturbances involve air
mass contrasts or fronts, and many are associated with migrating
pressure cells. The following are common characteristics of
atmospheric disturbances in general:-

They are smaller than the components of the general

circulation, although they are extremely variable in size.
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 They are migratory.
They have a relatively brief duration, persisting for only a
few minutes, a few hours, or a few days.
They produce characteristic and relatively predictable
weather conditions.

Midlatitude Disturbances: The midlatitudes are the principal

“battleground” of tropospheric phenomena: where polar and
tropical air masses meet, where most fronts occur, and where
weather is most dynamic and changeable from season to season
and from day to day. Many kinds of atmospheric disturbances are
associated with the midlatitudes, but two of these – midlatitude
cyclones and mid latitude anticyclones – are much more important
than the others because of their size and prevalence.

Tropical Disturbances: The low latitudes are characterized by

monotony – the same weather day after day, week after week, month
after month. Almost the only breaks are provided by transient
atmospheric disturbances, of which by far the most significant are
tropical cyclones (locally known as hurricanes when they intensify),
but also less dramatic disturbances known as easterly waves.

Localized Severe Weather:  Other localized atmospheric

disturbances occur in many parts of the world. Short-lived but
sometimes severe atmospheric disturbances such as thunderstorms
and tornadoes often develop in conjunction with other kinds of
storms.
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