Strong zonal winds from thermal convection in a rotating spherical shell
Open accessAbstract
Zonal wind (ZW) generation by thermal convection in rotating spherical shells is studied using numerical calculations. Strong ZW accompany quasi‐geostrophic, high Rayleigh number convection in shells with stress‐free boundaries. In a thin shell (radius ratio 0.75) with stress‐free boundaries, nearly 90% of the total kinetic energy is contained in the ZW at Rayleigh number 10 6 and Taylor number 4.4 × l0 7 . The same parameters in a thicker shell produce weaker convection and weaker ZW. Rigid boundaries reduce the kinetic energy in the ZW to less than 20% of the total. The ZW are eastward (prograde) in the equatorial region and westward at higher latitudes, and are driven by Reynolds stresses associated with the convection. Episodes with strong ZW alternate with episodes of strong convection. Although far from the dynamical regime of Jupiter and Saturn, our results support the interpretation that the prograde equatorial jets on these planets originate from deep convection.
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The absence of momentum injection by eddies might be caused by injection of energy at smaller scales not resolvable by the measurements or might reinforce the idea that the jets are deeply rooted structures driven by internal convection, making them insensitive at tropospheric level to the seasonal cycle.
“The absence of momentum injection by eddies might be caused by injection of energy at smaller scales not resolvable by the measurements or might reinforce the idea that the jets are in fact deeply rooted structures driven by the internal convection [ Aurnou and Olson, 2001; Kaspi et al. 2009] making them insensitive at tropospheric level to the seasonal cycle”
From Dynamics of Saturn's polar regions (2015) · cites this paper as Aurnou and Olson, 2001
Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAlternating jets on gas giant planets are either shallow, existing above about 10 bars, or deep, extending to tens of thousands of bars.
“on one hand, the alternating jets on gas giant planets are 'shallow', existing above 10 bars or so [15-17]; on the other hand, zonal jets are 'deep', extending to tens of thousands of bars [18-22].”
From Deep rotating convection generates the polar hexagon on Saturn (2020) · cites this paper as [20]
The citation is attached to the deep-jet interpretation, not the separately cited shallow-jet claim. The Abstract supports a deep-convection origin for equatorial jets on Jupiter and Saturn, but says the convection depth is unknown and does not specify tens of thousands of bars. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Christensen, U.R., A numerical model of zonal flow on the ma- jor planets driven by deep convection, Geophys. Res. Lett., in press.
Cited by
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“…not resolvable by the measurements or might reinforce the idea that the jets are, in fact, deeply rooted structures driven by the internal convection [Aurnou and Olson, 2001; Kaspi et al., 2009], making them insensitive at tropospheric level to the seasonal cycle [Sánchez-Lavega et al., 2014].”
BackgroundDeep rotating convection generates the polar hexagon on Saturn
Yadav, R. K., & Bloxham, J. (2020) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2000317117 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
- Authors
- Aurnou, J. M., & Olson, P. L.
- Affiliations
- Carnegie Institution for Science (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Venue
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 2001-07
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 2557-2559
- ISSN
- 0094-8276 (ISSN-L)
- 1944-8007
- OpenAlex
- W2091808985
- Cited by
- 106
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 3.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Geophysical Research Letters (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAG510165)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Computational Mechanics › Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
- Keywords
- zonal wind, thermal convection, rotating spherical shell, high Rayleigh number convection, stress-free boundary conditions, rigid boundary, Reynolds stress, kinetic energy, Jupiter, Saturn, deep convection
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