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Density Stratification Effects on the Thermal Convection in a Rotating Spherical Shell

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2016

N. Nishikawa
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan
K. Kusano
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Advanced Sciences of Matter, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan

Abstract

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The density stratification effects on the thermal convection in a rotating spherical shell, which is the representative of the solar convection zone, are investigated by three dimensional numerical simulations. It is found that, the convection structure in the strongly stratified system is switched from parallel cells aligned to the rotation axis to zonal rolles dominated by the longitudinally averaged mode, as the Rayleigh number increases much larger than the stability threshold. Corresponding to this structural transition, the averaged kinetic helicity reverses the sign in each hemisphere (from negative to positive in the northern hemisphere). The results indicate that the density stratification is much important for the nonlinear convection process in the rotating spherical shell.

Type
Session II: Convection Zone and Local Area Helioseismology
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2001 

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