Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
Oct 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.5510s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #55.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.527
Statistics
Computation
Scientific paper
Cloud layer observations show that the surface winds on the Ice Giants, Uranus and Neptune, are dominated by zonal motions. The winds are retrograde near the equator and are prograde at high latitudes. Measurements of outward heat flux show that Neptune emits more than twice the heat it receives via solar insolation. This indicates a significant internal heat source. In contrast, the ratio of outward thermal emission to insolation is no greater than 1.1 for Uranus. Although this ratio is likely to be only slightly greater than unity, if the internal heat flow exceeds the interior adiabat, it may still be dynamically important. Here we present numerical simulations of Boussinesq convection in a rotating spherical shell that show that strong convection in the molecular envelopes of these planets can generate large-scale zonal winds similar to the planetary observations. The deep zonal flows in the simulated molecular envelopes of our model result from convectively-driven angular momentum mixing. Using our present modeling results, we will derive an asymptotic heat transfer scaling law for this regime in order to determine if the observed interior heat fluxes on the Ice Giants can drive vigorous deep convection. We will also examine what controls the regime transition to an Ice Giant style of zonal flow. In particular, we test the effects of rotation. Our simulations indicate that the zonal flows do not depend on the planetary rotation rate once a critical value of the Ekman number, the ratio of viscous to Coriolis forces, is reached. Finally, we will predict convective heat flow patterns of Uranus and Neptune, assuming that deep convection is a dominant heat transfer process on these planets. The authors thank NASA's PATM Program for research funding (Grant NNG06GD12G). Computational resources were provided by the San Diego Supercomputing Center.
Aurnou Jonathan M.
Soderlund Krista M.
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