Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.1130k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #11.30; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1023
Statistics
Computation
Scientific paper
Three dimensional studies of convection in deep spherical shells have been used to test the hypothesis that the strong jet streams on giant planets result from convection throughout the molecular envelopes. Due to computational limitations, these simulations must be performed at parameter settings far from Jovian values and generally adopt heat fluxes much larger than the planetary values. Several numerical investigations have identified trends for how the mean jet speed varies with heat flux and viscosity, but no previous theories have been advanced to explain these trends. Here, we show using simple arguments that if convective release of potential energy pumps the jets and viscosity damps them, the mean jet speeds split into different regimes depending on the strength of the convection. For each regime we provide a different scaling based on energy constraints, momentum constraints, and mixing length theory. Transitions between these regimes are predicted and are consistent with three-dimensional numerical experiments. Our scalings provide a good match to the mean jet speeds obtained in previous Boussinesq and anelastic, three-dimensional simulations of convection within giant planets over a broad range of parameters. When extrapolated to the real heat fluxes, these scalings suggest that the mass-weighted jet speeds in the molecular envelopes of the giant planets are much weaker, by an order of magnitude or more, than the jet speeds measured at cloud level.
Flierl Glenn R.
Kaspi Yohai
Showman Adam P.
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