During certain seasons, strong winds call Chinooks blow from the west across the eastern slopes of the Rockies and downhill into Denver. Although the winds come from mountains where the temperature is low, the temperature in Denver can climb 20 °C within a few minutes after the Chinook wind arrives. Similar winds occur in the Alps and in Southern California. Explain why the temperature of the Chinook wind rises as it descends the slopes rapidly? (The answer to this is key to solving the numerical part of the problem, if the air moves very quickly then heat transfer into and out of the air can be neglected in the first approximation) Suppose the wind comes from Grays Peak (80 km west of Denver, elevation 4350 m) to Denver (elevation 1630 m) and the atmospheric condition at Grays Peak is -15.0 °C and 5.60 x 104 Pa pressure while the conditions in Denver before the wind arrives is 2.0 °C and 8.12 x 104 Pa. By how many degrees C will the temperature in Denver rise when the Chinook arrives? (Hint: A detailed discussion of the physics involved in the Chinook winds can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinook_wind)
During certain seasons, strong winds call Chinooks blow from the west across the eastern slopes of the Rockies and downhill into Denver. Although the winds come from mountains where the temperature is low, the temperature in Denver can climb 20 °C within a few minutes after the Chinook wind arrives. Similar winds occur in the Alps and in Southern California. Explain why the temperature of the Chinook wind rises as it descends the slopes rapidly? (The answer to this is key to solving the numerical part of the problem, if the air moves very quickly then heat transfer into and out of the air can be neglected in the first approximation) Suppose the wind comes from Grays Peak (80 km west of Denver, elevation 4350 m) to Denver (elevation 1630 m) and the atmospheric condition at Grays Peak is -15.0 °C and 5.60 x 104 Pa pressure while the conditions in Denver before the wind arrives is 2.0 °C and 8.12 x 104 Pa. By how many degrees C will the temperature in Denver rise when the Chinook arrives? (Hint: A detailed discussion of the physics involved in the Chinook winds can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinook_wind)
