1. Enclosed area of low pressure revealed by the pattern of pressure distribution. Depressions are also described as cyclones, or cyclonic systems, and have a characteristic pattern of wind circulation (anticlockwise around low pressure areas in the northern hemisphere). Mid-latitude depressions are associated with the convergence of polar and tropical air masses along a frontal zone: this commonly becomes deformed, and each air mass in turn advances over parts near (especially south of) the depression path, bringing first a warm and then a cold front.
2. The downward convexing of a crest line in a non-cylindroidal fold.