What is the air mass? Types of air masses. Characteristics and properties of air masses

Answering the question, what is the air mass, we can say that this is the environment of man. We breathe it, see, feel it daily. Without the ambient air, mankind could not conduct its life activity.

The role of flows in the natural cycle

What is the air mass? This is a flow of air, bringing a change of weather conditions. Due to the natural movement of the environment, precipitation travels thousands of kilometers around the globe. Snow and rain, cold and heat come according to established patterns. Scientists can predict climate change, delving deeper into the patterns of natural disasters.

Let's try to answer the question: what is the air mass? To its bright examples include cyclones, moving continuously. With them comes a warming or cold snap. They move with a constant regularity, but in rare cases, they deviate from the usual trajectory. As a result of such violations, cataclysms are found in nature.

So, in the desert snow falls from the cyclones of different temperatures or tornadoes, hurricanes are formed. This all relates to the answer to the question: what is the air mass? On its condition depends on what the weather will be, the saturation of the air with oxygen or moisture.

Changing heat and cold: causes

The air masses are the main participant in the formation of the climate on earth. The heating of the atmosphere is due to the energy received from the sun. Due to changes in temperature, air density changes. More sparse areas are filled with dense volumes.

Air masses are a collection of different states of gaseous layers of the atmosphere, which depend on the redistribution of heat due to the change of day and night. In the dark, the air cools, there is a wind moving from the denser layers to the rarefied ones. The strength of the flow depends on the rate of decrease in temperature, terrain, humidity.

The movement of masses is affected both by horizontal temperature gradients and by vertical ones. In the afternoon the earth takes heat from the sun, beginning to give it to the lower layers of the atmosphere from the evening. This process continues all night, and in the morning the water vapor concentrates in the air. This becomes the cause of precipitation: dew, rain, fog.

What are the gaseous states?

The characteristic of air masses is a quantitative quantity by which one can describe certain states of gaseous layers and give them an estimate.

There are three main indicators of the troposphere layers:

• The temperature gives information about the origin of the displacement of masses.
• Humidity, elevated in places near the seas, lakes and rivers.
• Transparency is determined externally. This parameter is influenced by suspended in air dust particles.

The following types of air masses are distinguished:

• Tropical - move towards temperate latitudes.
• Arctic - cold masses, moving towards warm latitudes from the northern part of the planet.
• Antarctic - cold, moving from the south pole.
• Moderate, on the contrary, warm air masses and move to cold poles.
• Equatorial - the warmest, diverge in the area with a lower temperature.

Subtypes

When the air masses move, their transformation takes place from one geographic type to another. There are subtypes: continental, marine. Accordingly, the former predominate on the land side, the latter bring moisture from the expanses of the seas and oceans. There is a regularity in the temperature gradient of such masses depending on the season: in summer the winds from the land are much warmer, and in winter the seas are warmed.

Everywhere there are prevailing air masses, prevailing constantly due to established regularities. They determine the weather in a given locality, and as a result, this leads to a difference in vegetation and the animal world. Recently, the transformation of air masses has changed significantly due to human activity.

The transformation of air masses appears more clearly on the coasts, where flows from land and sea meet. In some areas the wind does not cease for a second. Most often it is dry and does not change direction for a long time.

How does the transformation of flows in nature take place?

Air masses become visible under certain conditions. Examples of such phenomena are clouds, clouds, fogs. They can be located both at an altitude of thousands of kilometers, and directly above the ground. The latter are formed with a sharp decrease in the temperature of the surrounding air from increased humidity.

The sun plays an important role in the infinite process of motion of air masses. The change of day and night leads to the fact that the streams rush upward, lifting with them particles of water. High in the sky they crystallize and begin to fall. In the summer season, when it's warm enough, the ice sheets have time to melt in flight, so the precipitation is mostly observed in the form of rain.

And in winter, when cold currents pass over the earth, snow or even hail begins to fall. Therefore, in the equatorial and tropical latitudes, warm air expands the crystals. In the regions of the northern regions, these precipitations occur almost every day. Cold streams are heated from the heated surface of the earth, the rays of the sun pass through the air layers. But the heat given at night, it causes the formation of clouds, morning dew, fog.

How do you know the weather change for certain signs?

In the past they learned how to predict precipitation by obvious signs:

• In the distance, cirrus clouds or white areas in the form of rays become hardly noticeable.
• A sharp increase in wind indicates the approach of cold masses. It may rain, snow.
• Clouds always gather in low pressure zones. There is a sure way to determine this area. To do this, turn your back to the stream and look a little to the left of the horizon. If there are condensations, then this is a clear sign of inclement weather. Do not be confused: the clouds on the right side are not a sign of worsening weather conditions.
• The appearance of a whitish shroud, when the sun begins to cloud.

The wind falls when the cold area passes. More warm streams fill the formed rarefaction, often it becomes stuffy after the rain.