air mass

See also: airmass

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Perhaps a calque of German Luftmasse.

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɛː mas/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ɛəɹ mæs/, /ɛːɹ mæs/

Noun

air mass (plural air masses)

  1. (meteorology) A particular volume of air, especially one having a roughly uniform temperature, pressure and water vapour content. [from 19th c.]
    • 1939, ‘Cloudburst’, Time, 2 Jan 1939:
      After a 227-day drought ending with December temperatures above 90, a polar air mass collided with a wave of damp tropical air, condensed it in seven days of cloudburst.
    • 2013, Bridie Jabour, The Guardian, 31 Dec 2013:
      The mercury has been soaring in the state since the weekend because of an air mass hovering over Queensland.

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