Higher Geography – Atmosphere Practice Test

Maritime tropical air masses form over warm tropical oceans, so they carry a lot of moisture. That moisture means the relative humidity is high. When this hot, humid air rises, condensation happens easily and releases latent heat, making the rising parcels more buoyant than the surrounding air. This enhances vertical instability, driving strong convection and the unsettled weather typical of the tropics. So the fill-in is high relative humidity: hot to very hot air with high humidity readily leads to convective storms.