Boundary Layer Control of Rotating Convection Systems: the Transition from 2D to 3D Turbulence

Details Boundary Layer Control of Rotating Convection Systems: the Transition from 2D to 3D Turbulence Boundary Layer Control of Rotating Convection Systems: the Transition from 2D to 3D Turbulence

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.4302k&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #43.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.474

Physics

Geophysics

Scientific paper

Recent studies have reproduced the patterns of zonal flow and thermal emission on the Giant Planets using deep convection models. For example, it has been shown that the fundamental differences between the winds of the Ice Giants, Uranus and Neptune, and the Gas Giants, Jupiter and Saturn, may be explained by the breakdown of the influence of rotation on convection.
Here, we present results from a coupled suite of laboratory experiments and numerical simulations of rotating convection which span a broad range of parameter space. We observe distinct transitions from rotationally controlled, quasi-2D dynamics to strongly 3D, non-rotating style convection. We quantify the boundary between these two regimes as a function of the Rayleigh and Ekman numbers. The transition is not determined, as long assumed, by the convective Rossby number, but instead is controlled by boundary layer dynamics. It may then be easier than previously thought for convection systems to break free from the constraints of rotation. We are presently investigating how this transition correlates with zonal flows and magnetic field generation on the Giant Planets.
Funding provided by NSF Geophysics Program (EAR/IF) and NASA Planetary Atmospheres Program.

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