Some Properties of Hadley Regimes on Rotating and Non-Rotating Planets

Abstract

Abstract The problem of the steady symmetric motion of a Boussinesq fluid is considered for a system with small aspect ratio. It is assumed that the motion is driven by applying a periodic heat flux to the horizontal boundaries. Solutions are first found for a non-rotating system in which nonlinear effects are small, but not zero. The solutions show that if the fluid is heated from above, the meridional circulation tends to be concentrated near the upper boundary at the point where the cooling is a maximum; when the fluid is heated from below the meridional circulation tends to be concentrated near the lower boundary at the paint where the heating is a maximum. Then, it is shown for a non-rotating system that when nonlinear effects are dominant, vertical boundary layers must form. These vertical boundary layers form at points where the horizontal velocity is zero, and are characterized by small horizontal velocities and temperature gradients, but large vertical velocities and horizontal diffusion. By mean...