Related papers: Effects of compressibility on driving zonal flow i…

The surface zonal winds observed in the giant planets form a complex jet pattern with alternating prograde and retrograde direction. While the main equatorial band is prograde on the gas giants, both ice giants have a pronounced retrograde…

A mechanism by which the surface zonal flows of giant planets can be gradually attenuated with depth is explored. The zonal flow is driven by an imposed forcing in a thin layer near the surface. A meridional circulation is set up, analogous…

We study rapidly-rotating Boussinesq convection driven by internal heating in a full sphere. We use a numerical model based on the quasi-geostrophic approximation for the velocity field, whereas the temperature field is three-dimensional.…

Intense east-west winds called zonal jets are observed in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn and extend in their deep interior. We present experimental results from a fully three-dimensional laboratory analog of deep gas giants zonal…

The surface winds of Jupiter and Saturn are primarily zonal. Each planet exhibits strong prograde equatorial flow flanked by multiple alternating zonal winds at higher latitudes. The depth to which these flows penetrate has long been…

The linear theory for rotating compressible convection in a plane layer geometry is presented for the astrophysically-relevant case of low Prandtl number gases. When the rotation rate of the system is large, the flow remains geostrophically…

The observed surface dynamics of Jupiter and Saturn is dominated by a banded system of zonal winds. Their depth remains unclear but they are thought to be confined to the very outer envelopes where hydrogen remains molecular and the…

Zonal flows are often found in rotating convective systems. Not only are these jet-flows driven by the convection, they can also have a profound effect on the nature of the convection. In this work the cylindrical annulus geometry is…

We analyse the results of direct numerical simulations of rotating convection in spherical shell geometries with stress-free boundary conditions, which develop strong zonal flows. Both the Ekman number and the Rayleigh number are varied. We…

Giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn feature strong zonal wind patterns on their surfaces. Although several different mechanisms that may drive these jets have been proposed over the last decades, the origin of the zonal winds is still…

Motivated by understanding the dynamics of stellar and planetary interiors, we have performed a set of direct numerical simulations of Boussinesq convection in a rotating full sphere. The domain is internally heated with fixed temperature…

Numerical simulations of convection in a layer filled with ideal gas are presented. The control parameters are chosen such that there is a significant variation of density of the gas in going from the bottom to the top of the layer. The…

One of the most prominent dynamical features of turbulent, rapidly-rotating convection is the formation of large-scale coherent structures, driven by Reynolds stresses resulting from the small-scale convective flows. In spherical geometry,…

Mesoscale convection covers an intermediate scale range between small-scale turbulence and the global organization of the convection flow. It is often characterized by an order of the convection patterns despite very high Rayleigh numbers…

We investigate the onset and evolution of zonal flows in a growing convective layer when a stably-stratified fluid with a composition gradient is cooled from above. This configuration allows the study of zonal flows for a wide range of…

The dynamics, structure and stability of zonal jets in planetary flows are still poorly understood, especially in terms of coupling with the small-scale turbulent flow. Here, we use an experimental approach to address the questions of zonal…

In confined rotating convection, a strong zonal flow can develop close to the side wall with a modal structure that precesses anti-cyclonically (counter to the applied rotation) along the side wall. It is surmised that this is a robust…

We consider the effect of stratification on systematic, large-scale flows generated in anelastic convection. We present results from three-dimensional numerical simulations of convection in a rotating plane layer in which the angle between…

Anelastic convection at high Rayleigh number in a plane parallel layer with no slip boundaries is considered. Energy and entropy balance equations are derived, and they are used to develop scaling laws for the heat transport and the…

Jupiter and Saturn exhibit alternating east-west jet streams as seen from surface. The origin of these zonal flows has been debated for decades. The high-precision gravity measurements by Juno mission and the grand finale of Cassini mission…