Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Apr 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003eaeja.....1596l&link_type=abstract
EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6 - 11 April 2003, abstract #1596
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
Convection is the driver of weather. Vertical convective heat flux is responsible for the generation of cumulus clouds and rainfall, of which at least the former have been observed on Titan. Titan is an excellent laboratory for exploring atmospheric convection in a comparative planetological context both very similar and very different from Earth. The global average vertical heat flux has been estimated at 0.04 Wm-2, from the nongrey radiative-convective model of McKay et al. We illustrate with this, and a purely grey model, how the convective flux varies with incident flux, optical depth, surface temperature discontinuity and the imposed critical lapse rate, and explore where and when the convective flux may be higher than average, and by how much, paying particular attention to high southern latitudes at the present perihelion midsummer season. Some instructive comparisons can be made with Earth, and by equating the vertical heat flux with a sensible heat flux in narrow convective plumes that occupy a small area fraction of the planet. Plume velocities and area fractions can be estimated by equating the kinetic energy required for the plumes with the maximum achievable from the transported heat flux multiplied by the Carnot efficiency.
Lorenz Robert
McKay Chris
Renno Nilton
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