Related papers: Convective Lengthscale in Planetary Cores
Planetary rotation rate is a key parameter in determining atmospheric circulation and hence the spatial pattern of clouds. Since clouds can exert a dominant control on planetary radiation balance, rotation rate could be critical for…
Convection in planetary mantles is in the so-called mixed heating mode; it is driven by heating from below, due to a hotter core, as well as heating from within, due to radiogenic heating and secular cooling. Thus, in order to model the…
The flow of liquid metal inside the Earth's core produces the geomagnetic field and its time variations. Understanding the variability of those deep currents is crucial to improve the forecast of geomagnetic field variations, which affect…
Large-scale plasma flows in the Sun's convection zone likely play a major role in solar dynamics on decadal timescales. In particular, quantifying meridional motions is a critical ingredient for understanding the solar cycle and the…
Our goal is to investigate fundamental properties of the system of internally cooled convection. The system consists of an upward thermal flux at the lower boundary, a mean temperature lapse-rate and a constant cooling term in the bulk with…
Large regions of giant planets are thought to possess unstable thermal gradients stabilised by gradients in heavy-element composition. The fluid can then develop semi-convection, a double-diffusive instability driven by the unequal…
The multiscale flow structure in the solar convection zone - the coexistence of such features as the granules, mesogranules, supergranules and giant cells - has not yet been properly understood. Here, the possible role of one physical…
Main-sequence massive stars possess convective cores that likely harbor strong dynamo action. To assess the role of core convection in building magnetic fields within these stars, we employ the 3-D anelastic spherical harmonic (ASH) code to…
Bifurcation properties, stability behavior, dynamics, and the heat transfer of convection structures in a horizontal fluid layer that is driven away from thermal equilibrium by imposing a vertical temperature difference are compared with…
The operation of the solar global dynamo appears to involve many dynamical elements. Self-consistent MHD simulations which realistically incorporate all of these processes are not yet computationally feasible, though some elements can now…
As a tool for understanding the meridional circulation of the atmosphere, a two-dimensional ( latitude -- height ) numerical model is used to clarify the relationship between the Hadley circulation and large-scale motions associated with…
The Earth acts as a gigantic heat engine driven by decay of radiogenic isotopes and slow cooling, which gives rise to plate tectonics, volcanoes, and mountain building. Another key product is the geomagnetic field, generated in the liquid…
We used a thermal model of an iron core to calculate magnetodynamo evolution in Earth-mass rocky planets to determine the sensitivity of dynamo lifetime and intensity to planets with different mantle tectonic regimes, surface temperatures,…
Two main seismic features characterize the Earth's inner core: a North-South polar anisotropy and an East-West asymmetry of P-wave velocity and attenuation. Anisotropy is expected if shear deformation is induced by convective motions.…
Tidal dissipation in planetary interiors is one of the key physical mechanisms that drive the evolution of star-planet and planet-moon systems. New constraints are now obtained both in the Solar and exoplanetary systems. Tidal dissipation…
The near-surface layers of cool main-sequence stars are structured by convective flows, which are overshooting into the atmosphere. The flows and the associated spatio-temporal variations of density and temperature affect spectral line…
Understanding planetary core convection dynamics requires the study of convective flows in which the Coriolis and Lorentz forces attain a leading-order, so-called magnetostrophic balance. Experimental investigations of rotating…
In stars and planets natural processes heat convective flows in the bulk of a convective region rather than at hard boundaries. By characterizing how convective dynamics are determined by the strength of an internal heating source we can…
Convection plays a central role in the dynamics of any stellar interior, and yet its operation remains largely-hidden from direct observation. As a result, much of our understanding concerning stellar convection necessarily derives from…
Convection is ubiquitous in stars and occurs under many different conditions. Here we explore convection in main-sequence stars through two lenses: dimensionless parameters arising from stellar structure and parameters which emerge from the…