Numerical simulation of zonal flow driven by convection in the giant planets

Physics

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Scientific paper

The dynamic of the giant planets' atmosphere is dominated by strong zonal winds which blow in alternating directions with latitude. They are remarkably steady and responsible for the latitudinal banded pattern of clouds in the uppermost atmosphere. The origin of the zonal winds on the major planets is still not well understood but observations on Jupiter taken by Galileo probe suggest that they could originate in the interior of the planet. To study this zonal wind generation we solve numerically time-dependent 3-D thermal convection in a Boussinesq fluid enclosed in a rotating spherical shell. The simulations were done at low Ekman numbers for thin shells with mixed mechanical boundary conditions. Alternating flow bands occur on the outer surface of the shell at low Ekman numbers for thin shells under mechanical conditions in which the inner and the outer boundary are free-slip. We explore more realistic boundary conditions for the giant planets in particular cases with a zero-slip inner boundary. Under these conditions we found no evidence of multiple flow bands on the outer surface.

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