Related papers: Heat-blanketed convection and its implications 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 continental plates of Earth are known to drift over a geophysical timescale, and their interactions have lead to some of the most spectacular geoformations of our planet while also causing natural disasters such as earthquakes and…
We propose a general principle that under the radiative-convective equilibrium, the spatial and temporal variations in a planet's surface and atmosphere tend to increase its cooling. This principle is based on Jensen's inequality and the…
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…
Convective and radiative cooling are the two principle mechanisms by which the Earth's surface transfers heat into the atmosphere and that shape surface temperature. However, this partitioning is not sufficiently constrained by energy and…
Recently discovered exoplanets on close-in orbits should have surface temperatures of 100's to 1000's of K. They are likely tidally locked and synchronously rotating around their parent stars and, if an atmosphere is absent, have surface…
The Earth's magnetic field is generated by a dynamo in the outer core and is crucial for shielding our planet from harmful radiation. Despite the established importance of the core-mantle boundary heat flux as driver for the dynamo, open…
Changes in the atmospheric composition alter the magnitude and partitioning between the downward propagating solar and atmospheric longwave radiative fluxes heating the Earth's surface. These changes are computed by radiative transfer codes…
We use a one-dimensional line-by-line radiative-convective model to simulate hot, dense terrestrial-planet atmospheres. We find that strong shortwave absorption by H2O and CO2 inhibits near-surface convection, reducing surface temperatures…
The interior flux of a giant planet impacts atmospheric motion, and the atmosphere dictates the interior's cooling. Here we use a non-hydrostatic general circulation model (Simulating Nonhydrostatic Atmospheres on Planets, SNAP) coupled…
The effects of insulating lids on the convection beneath were investigated experimentally using rectangular convection cells in the flux Rayleigh number range $2.3\times10^{9}\leq Ra_F \leq 1.8\times10^{11}$ and cylindrical cells in the…
The circulation in Europa's ocean determines the degree of thermal, mechanical and chemical coupling between the ice shell and the silicate mantle. Using global direct numerical simulations, we investigate the effect of heterogeneous tidal…
While advances in computation are enabling finer grid resolutions in numerical weather prediction models, representing land-atmosphere exchange processes as a lower boundary condition remains a challenge. This partially results of the fact…
After the sunset, under calm and clear sky conditions, aerosol laden surface air-layer, cools radiatively to the upper atmosphere. Predominant effect of the radiative cooling on the vertical temperature profile extends to several hundred…
Near the surface of any neutron star there is a thin heat blanketing envelope that produces substantial thermal insulation of warm neutron star interiors and that relates the internal temperature of the star to its effective surface…
Ice shell dynamics are an important control on the habitability of icy ocean worlds. Here we present a systematic study evaluating the effect of temperature-dependent material properties on these dynamics. We review the published thermal…
Adding moving boundaries to convective fluids is known to result in nontrivial and surprising dynamics, leading to spectacular geoformations ranging from the kilometer-scale karst terrains to the planetary-scale plate tectonics. On one…
The constant temperature and constant heat flux thermal boundary conditions, both developing distinct flow patterns, represent limiting cases of ideally conducting and insulating plates in Rayleigh-B\'enard convection (RBC) flows,…
In an atmosphere, a cloud condensation region is characterized by a strong vertical gradient in the abundance of the related condensing species. On Earth, the ensuing gradient of mean molecular weight has relatively few dynamical…
Knowledge of the amount and distribution of radiogenic heating in the mantle is crucial for understanding the dynamics of the Earth, including its thermal evolution, the style and planform of mantle convection, and the energetics of the…