What is formed when two air masses collide?
So when two different air masses meet a boundary is formed. The boundary between two air masses is called a front. Weather at a front is usually cloudy and stormy. There are four different fronts- Cold Warm Stationary and Occluded.
What is it called when two air masses meet and stop moving?
Stationary Fronts Sometimes two air masses stop moving when they meet. These stalled air masses create a stationary front. Such a front may bring clouds and precipitation to the same area for many days.
What forms when two air masses meet and creates weather?
When two air masses meet together the boundary between the two is called a weather front. At a front the two air masses have different densities based on temperature and do not easily mix. One air mass is lifted above the other creating a low pressure zone. … Fronts are the main cause of stormy weather.
What happens when two air masses meet quizlet?
What happens when two air masses meet? When two air masses meet, they form a front, which is a boundary that separates two air masses of different properties. How is a warm front produced? A warm front forms when warm air moves into an area formerly covered by cooler air.
What happens when two wind fronts converge?
Convergence: When two air masses of the same temperature collide and neither is willing to go back down, the only way to go is up. As the name implies, the two winds converge and rise together in an updraft that often leads to cloud formation.
What forms when two air masses collide and the fronts become distorted?
As air masses collide the boundary between the fronts sometimes becomes distorted by surface features such as mountains or winds. When this happens bends can happen along the front and the air begins to swirl. What are cyclones? They are a swirling center of low air pressure.
What happens when two air fronts meet?
When two different air masses come into contact, they don't mix. They push against each other along a line called a front. When a warm air mass meets a cold air mass, the warm air rises since it is lighter. At high altitude it cools, and the water vapor it contains condenses.
What is Frontogenesis and frontolysis?
Frontogenesis refers to the initial formation of a surface front or frontal zone, while frontolysis is the dissipation or weakening of a front.
What might happen when two air masses come together and form a warm front?
As the warm front approaches, there may be fog or increasing rainfall, and thunderstorms may form, as well. This is due to the (usually) higher humidity in the air of warm fronts compared to that of cold fronts.
What are the two air masses?
Equatorial air masses develop near the Equator, and are warm. Air masses are also identified based on whether they form over land or over water. Maritime air masses form over water and are humid. Continental air masses form over land and are dry.
What occurs at a front when two air masses meet?
A weather front is a transition zone between two different air masses at the Earth's surface. Each air mass has unique temperature and humidity characteristics. Often there is turbulence at a front, which is the borderline where two different air masses come together. The turbulence can cause clouds and storms.
What is it called when a warm and cold fronts meet?
An occluded front forms when a cold front reaches a warm front, forcing all the warm air to rise to higher altitudes and the cold air is stratified near the ground.
What is a convergence of air?
Air moving in toward a center of low pressure or a trough is forced to rise, exhibiting a motion called convergence. Similarly, air moving outward from a ridge or center of high pressure descends, exhibiting divergence.
What happens when air converges?
Since the converging air has nowhere else to go, it rises. As the air rises, the water vapor within cools and eventually condenses into cloud droplets and raindrops. Because of this, low pressure centers are generally associated with clouds, precipitation, and what we generally call "bad weather."
What happens when fronts collide?
When a warm air mass meets a cold air mass, the warm air rises since it is lighter. At high altitude it cools, and the water vapor it contains condenses. This type of front is called a warm front. It generates nimbostratus clouds, which can result in moderate rain.
What is the meaning of frontolysis?
Definition of frontolysis : a process tending to destroy a meteorological front.
What is frontolysis in geography?
Frontolysis in meteorology, is the dissipation or weakening of an atmospheric front. In contrary to areas of "Frontogenesis", the areas where air masses diverge are called areas of frontolysis.
What happens when two weather fronts meet?
Because cold fronts move faster, the cold front is likely to overtake the warm front. This is known as an occluded front. At an occluded front, the cold air mass from the cold front meets the cool air that was ahead of the warm front. The warm air rises as these air masses come together.
What forms a front between two air masses?
Weather fronts Weather fronts mark the boundary between two different air masses, which often have contrasting properties. For example, one air mass may be cold and dry and the other air mass may be relatively warm and moist. These differences produce a reaction (often a band of rain) in a zone known as a front.
Do air masses meet at fronts?
A weather front is a transition zone between two different air masses at the Earth's surface. Each air mass has unique temperature and humidity characteristics. Often there is turbulence at a front, which is the borderline where two different air masses come together. The turbulence can cause clouds and storms.
What is Airfront?
The borderline between two air masses is called a front. There are various types of fronts, including cold, warm, occluded and stationary fronts. A warm front is an area of warm air displacing cold air.
What happens when air masses of different temperatures meet quizlet?
When air masses come together, warm air rises over cold air. The boundary between warm air and cold air is much steeper in a warm front than in a cold front. In a warm front, warm air pushes underneath cold air.
What is mass convergence?
Mass convergence is found in areas where winds come together. As winds come together, mass builds up and therefore causes air to rise, creating an updraft. Convergence may occur due to topography or daytime heating, and can be especially strong along fronts and dry lines.
What is divergence and convergence?
Divergence generally means two things are moving apart while convergence implies that two forces are moving together. In the world of economics, finance, and trading, divergence and convergence are terms used to describe the directional relationship of two trends, prices, or indicators.
What is wind convergence?
As you know, a strong wind moving into a weak wind is convergence. Second, as height contours spread apart, a divergence of air occurs. The convergence due to stronger wind moving into weaker wind replenishes the mass lost due to the divergence in the diffluent flow.
What happens when a warm and cold air mass collide?
The boundary where a cold air mass meets a cool air mass under a warm air mass is called an occluded front. At a front, the weather is usually unsettled and stormy, and precipitation is common."
What is Frontogenesis and Frontolysis?
Frontogenesis refers to the initial formation of a surface front or frontal zone, while frontolysis is the dissipation or weakening of a front.
What occluded front?
An Occluded Front forms when a warm air mass gets caught between two cold air masses. The warm air mass rises as the cool air masses push and meet in the middle. The temperature drops as the warm air mass is occluded, or “cut off,” from the ground and pushed upward.
What is frontogenesis and Frontolysis?
Frontogenesis refers to the initial formation of a surface front or frontal zone, while frontolysis is the dissipation or weakening of a front.
What is occlusion in geography?
In meteorology, an occluded front is a type of weather front formed during cyclogenesis. The classical and usual view of an occluded front is that it initiates when a cold front overtakes a warm front near a cyclone, such that the warm air is separated (occluded) from the cyclone center at the surface.