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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
