Spiralling columnar convection in rapidly rotating spherical fluid shells

Abstract

It is shown that the fundamental features of both thermal instabilities and the corresponding nonlinear convection in rapidly rotating spherical systems (in the range of the Taylor number 109 < T < 1012) are determined by the fluid properties characterized by the size of the Prandtl number. Coefficients of the asymptotic power law for the onset of convection at large Taylor number are estimated in the range of the Prandtl number 0.1 ≤ Pr ≤ 100. For fluids of moderately small Prandtl number, a new type of convective instability in the form of prograde spiralling drifting columnar rolls is discovered. The linear columnar rolls extend spirally from near latitude 60° to the equatorial region, and each spans azimuthally approximately five wavelengths with the inclination angle between a spirally elongated roll and the radial direction exceeding 45°. As a consequence, the radial lengthscale of the linear roll becomes comparable with the azimuthal lengthscale. A particularly significant finding is the connection between the new instability and the predominantly axisymmetric convection. Though non-axisymmetric motions are preferred at the onset of convection, the nonlinear convection (at the Rayleigh number of the order of (R—Rc)/Rc = O(0.1)) bifurcating supercritically from the spiralling mode is primarily dominated by the component of the axisymmetric zonal flow, which contains nearly 90% of the total kinetic energy. For fluids of moderately large Prandtl numbers, thermal instabilities at the onset of convection are concentrated in a cylindrical annulus coaxial with the axis of rotation; the position of the convection cylinder is strongly dependent on the size of the Prandtl number. The associated nonlinear convection consists of predominantly non-axisymmetric columnar rolls together with a superimposed weak mean flow that contains less than 10% of the total kinetic energy at (R—Rc)/Rc = O(0.1). A double-layer structure of the temperature field (with respect to the basic state) forms as a result of strong nonlinear interactions between the nonlinear flow and the temperature field. It is also demonstrated that the aspect ratio of the spherical shell does not substantially influence the fundamental properties of convection.