Statistical characterization of thermal plumes in turbulent thermal convection

Abstract

Thermal plumes are prominent coherent structures in convective turbulence and are responsible for heat transport and initialization of the ``wind'' of turbulent convection. It is difficult to experimentally measure their properties spatially, but researchers have developed a method to characterize the plumes and their contributions to thermal fluctuation using temporally measured temperature signals in turbulent Rayleigh-B\'enard convection.