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The North Pole is essentially at sea level these days, at least in summer when it is often ice-free.
The South Pole lies towards the centre of the Antarctic Continent, and is at an altitude of about 9 000 metres. So it is much colder, and the air is much 'thinner'. The relative humidity is very low, for there is essentially no water vapour in the air. For this reason, the Antarctic Continent is largely a desert.
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What are the temperature and pressure condition of the surface air at the poles?
Booty
What are the temperature and pressure conditions of surface air at the equator?
yes
Why is the atmospheric pressure less at the poles?
The earth is slightly flattened at the poles. This has the effect of lowering the surface and raising the weight of air above.
Why does air flow from the poles to the equator?
It goes south and new hot air comes up to the poles to be frozen and pushed back down.
Why is High Pressure Is At The Poles?
it is because air sinks at the poles
What are the pressure conditions of the air above poles?
Generally the poles are cold places, receiving Sunlight at a low angle or no Sun at all. This means the air above the poles tends to be cooler than the rest of the planet. Cold air is dense so the pressure of the air at the poles tends to be higher than the rest of the planet. Thus air (cold air) tends to flow away from the polar regions along the Earth's surface to be replaced by light warmer air flowing into the poles at a higher level (this air then cools). There is therefore a general flow of warm air north and south towards the poles from the equator and a flow of cold air from the poles towards the equator. This flow of air spreads out the heat from the Sun, warming the poles and cooling the tropics. In detail this overall flow is restricted by the thickness of Earth's atmosphere and several flow cells form to complete the chain causing Earth's climatic zones.
Which direction does the air currents towards the poles or away from the poles?
Away from the poles because the air near Earths surface is warm.
Why is the air pressure the poles higher than the air pressure at the equator?
The reason the tropopause is lower above the poles than the equator is... The time it takes air to cool. The surface air-temperature at the equator is much higher than at the poles, meaning that the air rises further to reach the equilibrium required at the tropopause. Likewise, the air at the poles is cooler, and does not require as much room to rise.
What kind of pressure does the air masses at the poles?
low pressure and high pressure
Why do the warm tropical air sink when they reach the poles?
Think of the air at the Equator as a column. If you heat it, the air in the column expands and rises, cooling as it does so. As the column gets taller, at altitude you have relatively higher pressure, and the air flows out towards a lower pressure area. When the air flows out from the top of the column, it leaves lower pressure at the surface. The opposite happens at the poles where the air is cold and dense. The column is shorter and heavier than the column at the Equator. The pressure is lower at altitude and so the high pressure air from the Equator flows there. Adding air to the top of the polar column raises the surface pressure and the air flows from there to a lower pressure area at the equator. So you get a circulation, out from the Equator to the poles at high level, and in towards the Equator at lower level. The air that left the Equator was warm when it was on the surface at the Equator, but by the time it has risen 40,000-50,000 feet and traveled several thousand miles at high altitude, it is no longer warm. The rotation of the earth and the roughness of the terrain affect the flow greatly, and the air at the surface tends to turn to the right causing rotating areas of high and low pressure.
Air pressure near the equator is less than air pressure at the poles a fact that causes air to move where?
From west to east
How Does Vertical air affects pressure at the surface?
Yes the surface pressure is caused by the weight of the vertical column of air above a surface.
