Richard J.A.M. Stevens

Physics of Fluids · University of Twente

Publication 82 · Thermal convection

Diffusion-free scaling in rotating spherical Rayleigh-Bénard convection

G. Wang, L. Santelli, D. Lohse, R. Verzicco, R.J.A.M. Stevens, Geophys. Res. Lett. 48(20), e2021GL095017 (2021).

Main finding

Three latitude-dependent flow regions occur in the principal spherical DNS.

Temperature fluctuation on a rotating sphere with heat transport plotted against latitude
How to read the figure. (a) Temperature fluctuation on two meridional cuts, the equatorial section and the spherical surface. (b) The same sphere with the two latitude boundaries marked. (c) Heat transport against latitude, dividing into three regions whose extents are set by those boundaries. Open the full-resolution figure. Figure 3. G. Wang et al. (2021). No separate licence is stated here; consult the original publication and credited source before reuse.

Why this matters

Latitude-dependent regimes show why one global heat-transfer law can conceal distinct rotating-convection dynamics.

Research context

The paper extends planar rotating-RB results including Prandtl-, Rayleigh-, and Rossby-Number dependence of heat transport in…, but spherical latitude dependence is not directly comparable to a cylinder.

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