"Andrew Sarangan" wrote in message
...
Looking at the worldwide surface analysis chart, it looks like land
areas have far more pressure variations than oceans. However, I am not
sure if this is a real effect or simply an artifact of the fact that
there aren't many observation stations on the oceans. Any thoughts?

Here is an example:
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/UA.shtml

Lifting action?