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Joined 22 days ago
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Cake day: August 28th, 2024

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  • The way it is taught in many Earth Science text books, is that if you have two similar volumes of air, but the first is colder than the second, the first will have a higher density, and therefore a larger mass, and therefore a higher air pressure (e.g. at the surface).

    Following this logic, you expect higher pressure in colder areas, as long as the volume of air (the height of the air column) is the same. I think the answer to my question has to do with the latter: the atmosphere is less thick at the poles. As a result, despite the much lower temperatures, the air pressure at the poles is generally lower than (for example) at the subtropical highs.