GG101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Canadian Pacific Air Lines, Solar Irradiance, Dominate
Document Summary
Weather is the short term, day-to-day condition of the atmosphere. Climate is the long term average of weather conditions and extremes n a region. Important elements that contribute to weather are temperature, air pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and seasonal factors such as insolation receipt related to day to day length and sun angle. Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere. Meteorologists study the atmosphere"s physical characteristics and motion, related chemical and physical processes, linkages of the atmospheric systems and weather forecasting. Air masses affecting north america (see figure 8. 2) Classify air masses generally according to the moisture and temperature of their source regions. Moisture designated m for maritime (wet) and c for continental (dry) Temperature designated a (artic), p (polar), t (tropical), e (equatorial) and aa (antarctic: continental artic (ca) air masses originate in siberia and northern canada. Dominate the extreme north in winter when they cross the north pole and spill over into north.
