Blob instability in rotating compositional convection

Details Blob instability in rotating compositional convection Blob instability in rotating compositional convection

Jan 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999georl..26..135c&link_type=abstract

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 26, Issue 1, p. 135-138

Physics

3

Geodesy And Gravity: Earth'S Interior-Dynamics, Geomagnetism And Paleomagnetism: Core Processes, Tectonophysics: Core Processes

Scientific paper

The onset and structure of compositional convection in a rotating system are investigated experimentally. A vertically oriented cylindrical annulus filled with NH4Cl-H2O solution is cooled from the bottom and can be rotated about its axis at rates ranging up to 10.5 rad s-1, corresponding to Ekman numbers down to 7.5×10-6. The Coriolis force has a strong effect on the structure of plumes above the mush-liquid interface. Helical motion of the conduit, which is weakly developed in the non-rotating case, is amplified by Coriolis forces that twist the plume conduits to lie nearly horizontally. This results in secondary plumes (or blobs) that rise from the sub-horizontal primary plume conduits. This new instability could be an efficient mechanism for producing small-scale flow in the form of buoyant blobs that ascend through the polar regions of the outer core.

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