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Meteorology

3.7.1.1 Characteristics of air masses

The different air masses each have their own characteristics:

Maritime polar air: cold and humid
Continental polar air: cold and dry

Maritime tropical air: warm and humid
Continental tropical air: warm and dry

Arctic air: very cold

The classification is logical in that polar air masses are cold, maritime air masses
are moist, and continental air masses are dry.

The humidity in the atmosphere plays a significant role in the temperature
because a dry (continental) tropical air mass becomes much warmer in summer

than the moist (maritime) tropical air.

Similarly, dry (continental) polar air is much colder in winter than moist

(maritime) polar air. The reason for this phenomenon is that air gets its heating

and cooling from the surface it rests on. Since land areas heat and cool much

faster and more effectively than sea areas, this results in large temperature

variations over continents.

The places where the air can typically remain for longer periods are areas with

relatively weak winds. The most logical places are areas with high pressure,

because these areas generally have weak winds. High pressure can either be

over land, resulting in dry air, or over the sea, making the air moist.

The typical location of air masses varies with the seasons.

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Flight Theory PPL(A)(UL)/LAPL Henning Andersen, Midtjysk Flyveskole© 2025 298