Mountain breathing: preliminary studies of air-land interaction on Mauna Kea, Hawaii
- Author:
-
Friedman, Irving, Woodcock, Alfred H.
- Title:
- Mountain breathing: preliminary studies of air-land interaction on Mauna Kea, Hawaii
- Periodical:
- Shorter contributions to geophysics, 1979.
- Year:
- 1980
- Subject:
-
Orographic airflow
Weather forecasting Mauna Kea
- Summary:
- Air moves in and out of the porous ash and cinder of the summit of the dormant volcano Mauna Kea, Hawaii (altitude about 4200 m), presumably in response to pressure changes in the atmosphere. Measurements have revealed an average airflow of about 20 kg m(super-2) d(super-1). The air enters the porous ash relatively dry and leaves nearly saturated; the excess water vapor averages about 6.6 gm kg(super-1). This vapor flow produces an estimated average latent heat loss to the atmosphere from the interior surfaces of the mountain of about 3.9 W m(super-2) (0.94 cal m(super-2) s(super-1). Thus it appears that a sensible source, which is probably geothermal, exists within the mountain. A negative thermal gradient in the summit cone and deuterium analyses of exhaled water vapor indicate that the vapor source is, in part, permafrost.
- Collection:
- Monographs