An anticyclone and a high-pressure cell have identical properties, only the name is different. In the United States, when an area of high (atmospheric) pressure has a closed circulation, it is called a high-pressure cell or a high. Few people make use of the word anticyclone.

High-pressure cells are of two sorts. One type develops on land; the other type exists at sea. Whenever a sufficient amount of cold, dry air collects on land at one area, it will produce a shallow high-pressure cell at that place. In general, the cold, dry air type of terrestrial anticyclone or high-pressure cell will move across the land until it passes onto the surface of an ocean where it will gradually dissipate and vanish, completely. The exceptional land-based Siberian High often remains quasi-stationary for several months during the most frigid time of the year, making it unique in that regard.

The type of anticyclone or high-pressure cell composed of warm, dry air exists on much of the surfaces of the oceans of the world. Citizens of the United states are aware of the Bermuda High which Europeans call the Azores High. It is a large high which brings fair weather over much of the North Atlantic ocean. Along its southerly periphery, the clockwise circulation often impels easterly waves across the ocean towards North America during the hurricane season.

See also

Anticyclone North American High Low-pressure cell