Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p31b1249n&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P31B-1249
Statistics
Computation
[0545] Computational Geophysics / Modeling, [5724] Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets / Interiors
Scientific paper
Longitudinal libration is a time-periodic variation in a planetary body's mean rotation rate. Among the various librating bodies in our solar system, some are thought to possess an internal liquid core (e.g. Mercury, Io, and the Earth's moon) or subsurface ocean (Europa, Titan). This libration is capable of driving flows within these planets through viscous, topographic or electromagnetic couplings. A detailed study of the librationally induced fluid dynamics would provide insight on the energy budget, angular momentum balance, and magnetic field induction within these planets. We have carried out laboratory and numerical hydrodynamic libration experiments in full sphere and spherical shell geometries. The spherical, hydrodynamic approach allows us to focus, at present, on the purely viscous coupling problem. Laboratory experiments demonstrate that longitudinal libration is capable of generating time-periodic centrifugal instabilities near the librating solid boundary, as well as inertial waves and zonal flows in the fluid interior. In an effort to apply these results to librating planets, we have carried out axisymmetric numerical simulations that access more extreme parameter values than can be reached in the laboratory experiment. These axisymmetric simulations show that the nonlinear interaction of inertial waves is the primary mechanism responsible for the zonal flow generation, whereas the Reynolds stresses generated from centrifugal instabilities only weakly influence zonal flow strength. In addition, it is found that the onset of the centrifugal instabilities does not follow a simple scaling, as previously inferred from the laboratory experiments.
Aurnou Jonathan M.
Calkins Michael A.
Eldredge Jeff
Noir Jérôme
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