Connect your learning –Name the air masses, their codes and sources

below
Name: Name:
Code: Code:
Source Source

Name:
Code:
Source

Name:
Code:
Source

Note – these air

masses can affect the
whole of the UK, not
Name: necessarily just
Code: where the arrow
Source:
points!
Polar Maritime Arctic Maritime
(PM) (AM)
Source: Greenland Source: Within
and Canada the Arctic Circle

Polar Continental
(PC)
Source: Eastern
Europe and Siberia

Tropical Maritime
(TM)
Source: Caribbean,
moves with the
Westerlies

Note – these air

masses can affect the
Tropical Continental whole of the UK, not
(TC) necessarily just where
Source: North Africa
the arrow points!
and the Sahara
 Air pressure and winds
Objectives
1. To understand that air has
a mass and exerts a
pressure
2.To contrast high and low
pressure
3.To be able to explain why
winds are created and the
factors that affect the wind.
4.To be able to interpret
weather charts.
Outcomes
1.Written answers on a
pressure experiment
2.A completed table
comparing high and low
pressure
3.The ability to explain the 2
factors that create and
affect winds
4.Answers to questions about
a weather map
 Model of Atmospheric circulation
with surface winds added
North Pole (90°N) The model of air
HIGH PRESSURE Po
la rC
movement in the
el l
atmosphere was
60°N
LOW PRESSURE looked at in a

Fer
previous lesson.

rel
Ce l
ll
PREVAILING
30°N WESTERLIES On it you can see
HIGH PRESSURE
that there are areas

Hadley
TROPICAL
EASTERLIES
marked on with

Cell
EQUATOR 0° high and low
LOW PRESSURE pressure.

TROPICAL What do these

EASTERLIES
30°S terms mean?
HIGH PRESSURE
PREVAILING
WESTERLIES
How do they affect
the wind?
LOW PRESSURE
60°S In this lesson we are
HIGH PRESSURE going to find out!
http://www.coolgeography.co.uk
C H A L L E N G E O F N A T U R A L
South Pole (90°S) ©Rob Gamesby H A Z A R D S
What happens to the water in the glass as air warms up? A
simple experiment.

Watch the video - https://www.youtube.com/embed/cNh3N_1e4wQ

1. What happens to the water level in the glass? Why?
2. In Which DIRECTION does the water go? Why?
3. How does this relate to atmospheric pressure in our ATMOSPHERE?
Air Pressure
1. Breathe in and out deeply for 30 seconds. Explain to a partner
what has happened to your lungs and chest. Try to give reasons
why.
2. When we breath in deeply our lungs take in the air around us, this
air, although invisible, has mass and exerts a pressure on our lungs.
This makes out lungs expand and pushes our chest out.
3. When we breathe out, air is forced out of lungs which are under
less pressure, our chest descends.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Atmospheric When we measure
Pressure atmospheric pressure with a
barometer we are simply
measuring the weight of the
column of air above us.
If the pressure reduces, it
Height

means there must be less

air in the column above our
heads.
M
ol

The pressure of the

ec
ul

air on the ground is

e
so
fa

the same as the

ir

extra pressure
under the foot of a
very large
elephant!
 Atmospheric pressure and winds

• Imagine 2 buckets of water, one with more in than the

other.
Atmospheric Pressure and Winds
• Imagine 2 buckets of water, one with more in than the other.
• If you removed the separation in the middle the water
would flow from the area with most water in to the other,
equalizing the level
• Air is just like water – if there is more air in one place (High
pressure) and less in another (Low pressure) then the air is
pushed from the High pressure to the Low pressure.

Air flows from high to low

pressure in the same way
that water always flows until
its height is equalised.
Why do we get HIGH Pressure? • There are some places in
the atmosphere where
the air is sinking.
• The sinking air hits the
3. Air flows in at the top to
replace the sinking air. ground and spreads out.
• Also, air flows in at the
5. The air flowing in at the top to replace the
top is not slowed by friction.
This means it’s easier for air sinking air.
to come into the area than
to leave it.
• The air spreading out at
the ground is slowed
Height

1. There are some places in the down by friction at the

atmosphere where the air is sinking.
Earth’s surface but the
air flowing in at the top
is not.
• This means it’s easier for
air to come into the area
than to leave it.
6. We end up with
more air at the
• We end up with more
ground. This is the air.
high pressure we get
in an anticyclone • This is High pressure.
2. The sinking air hits 4. The air spreading out at the
the ground and ground is slowed down by
spreads out. friction at the Earth’s surface
 Why do we get LOW Pressure?

• There are some places in

the atmosphere where the
3. The rising air hits the air is rising. This can happen
top of the atmosphere and
spreads out.
if the air is heated at the
ground.
5. This means it’s easier for • Air flows in at the ground to
air to leave the area than to
come in. replace the rising air.
• The rising air hits the top of
the atmosphere and spreads
out.
Height

• The air flowing in at the

ground is slowed down by
1. There are some places in the
atmosphere where the air is rising. friction at the Earth’s
This can happen if the air is heated surface but the air
at the ground.
spreading out at the top is
not.
• This means it’s easier for air
6. We end up with to leave the area than to
less air at the Earth’s
surface. This is Low
come in.
pressure. • We end up with less air at
4. The air flowing in at the ground
the Earth’s surface.
2. Air flows in at the
ground to replace the is slowed down by friction at the • This is Low pressure.
rising air. Earth’s surface but the air
spreading out at the top is not.
Atmospheric pressure – High Versus Low The average
Complete the table as a summary atmospheric pressure at
sea level on the Earth is
1013 millibars
High Pressure Low Pressure
Is there more air or less air?

Simple sketch diagram showing

what happens

Is the air rising or sinking?

Is the air at the surface moving
away from or into the area?

Typical pressure values

Up to 1050 millibars 950 millibars

Atmospheric pressure and
winds

1. So, where there are differences in pressure wind generally

moves from areas of High Pressure to areas of Low pressure
2. Where the differences in pressure are GREAT, (a steeper
pressure gradient) the winds tend to be faster
3. However, we live on a rotating, spherical planet….
TASK - In pairs what effect do you think our rotating planet
might have on the WIND?
Answer these questions whilst
the video plays Atmospheric
1. What makes air move?
2. Does air blow directly between
pressure and winds
high and low pressure areas or
along the pressure contours
around these areas?
3. How far would you travel in a
day if standing on the Equator?
4. Why don’t we notice this
speed?
5. What would happen to you if
stood at the North Pole?
6. What happens if air moves Video link https://youtu.be/zH4nrgozVGk
from the Equator Northwards?
7. Which way is air deflected in
the Northern Hemisphere?
 In summary - Atmospheric pressure and winds
The wind tends to blow along the pressure
EXTENSION
contours. Watch the video from
the BBC -
We name winds by the direction they are blowing http://www.bbc.co.u
from. k/weather/features/3
5465157

The closer the pressure contours are to each Can you explain the
other, the faster the wind patterns of wind on
the forecast?
Winds blow around a low-pressure system in an
anticlockwise direction in the Northern
Hemisphere
“In the Northern Hemisphere, if you stand with your back to the wind
then the lower pressure will be on your left”
“Righty tighty, lefty loosey”
JANUARY

Global pressures
1. What sort of pressure is
found over Northern India
and China in January?
2. What does that mean is
happening to the air there?
3. What sort of pressure is
JULY found over Northern India
and China in July?
4. What does that mean is
happening to the air there?

Source of both maps -

https://www.dwd.de/EN/ourservices/global_air_pressure/luftdruckglobal.html
Air Pressure and Winds- Review

• http://earth.nullschool.net
Click on the ‘Earth’ text and select ‘MSLP’ (mean sea
level pressure) as the overlay
Look at the Northern Hemisphere.
Can you identify areas of High and Low pressure?
Where are the wind speeds fastest?
Where is the wind clockwise?
What colour is at the centre of a clockwise wind?
Where is the wind anticlockwise?
What colour is at the centre of an anticlockwise
wind?
https://quizlet.com/_8y57vx?x=1jqt&i=38anvz
 Pressure and winds - climate change
1850 1900 1950 2000 2018

In the UK, we expect it to

get stormier in winter as
the climate changes. How
should we make use of
this and prepare for it? 
 Thunk
Question
Where does wind
Thunk question
“A Thunk
question is a…
matter most?
simple-looking
question about
everyday things
that stops you in
your tracks and
helps you start to
look at the world
in a whole new
light.”
https://www.indep
endentthinking.co.u
k/thunks/

n.b. Thunk in this

sense is not an
official word in
the Cambridge
English
Dictionary!