Charting Air Mass Movements
Finding the source of atmospherically transported POP's that are deposited in colder regions required tracking back air air masses. Charting the source region and direction of air mass movement requires look back at the previous surface weather charts. The past positions and direction of movement of the frontal systems provide you with the location of air masses at earlier times. This charting allows one to determine if the air mass is colder or warmer than the underlying surface and if any of the air masses have undergone modification. With a knowledge of the movement pattern and thermodynamics of the air masses, you can now estimate the stability of the air mass.
ES students between 1997nto 2005 examined weather charts for western north America over a ten day period. They found the most common movement was from the west and south west during spring , and fall periods and more commonly from the north during winter. The air masses that moved along the industrial west coast and the air masses that moved across Siberia were thought to potentially carry more POPs than the air masses that spent 10 days over the Pacific.
Finding the source of atmospherically transported POP's that are deposited in colder regions required tracking back air air masses. Charting the source region and direction of air mass movement requires look back at the previous surface weather charts. The past positions and direction of movement of the frontal systems provide you with the location of air masses at earlier times. This charting allows one to determine if the air mass is colder or warmer than the underlying surface and if any of the air masses have undergone modification. With a knowledge of the movement pattern and thermodynamics of the air masses, you can now estimate the stability of the air mass.
ES students between 1997nto 2005 examined weather charts for western north America over a ten day period. They found the most common movement was from the west and south west during spring , and fall periods and more commonly from the north during winter. The air masses that moved along the industrial west coast and the air masses that moved across Siberia were thought to potentially carry more POPs than the air masses that spent 10 days over the Pacific.