Ridge (meteorology)

This article is about the meteorology concept. For other uses, see Ridge (disambiguation).
Ridge line extending to the left of the high pressure center (H).

In meteorology a ridge or barometric ridge is an elongated area of relatively high atmospheric pressure compared to the surrounding environment, without being a closed circulation.[1] It is associated with an area of maximum anticyclonic curvature of wind flow. The ridge originates in the center of an anticyclone and sandwiched between two low-pressure areas, and the locus of the maximum curvature is called the ridge line. This phenomenon is the opposite of a trough.

  1. ^ American Meteorological Society. "Ridge". AMS Glossary. Retrieved August 2, 2019.