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Towards understanding polar heat transport enhancement in sub-glacial oceans on icy moons
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  • Robert Hartmann,
  • Richard J. A. M. Stevens,
  • Detlef Lohse,
  • Roberto Verzicco
Robert Hartmann
University of Twente

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Richard J. A. M. Stevens
University of Twente
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Detlef Lohse
University of Twente
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Roberto Verzicco
Universita' di Roma Tor Vergata
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Abstract

The interior oceans of several icy moons are considered as “moderately rotating”. Observations suggest a larger heat transport around the poles than at the equator. Rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RRBC) in planar configuration is known to show an enhanced heat transport compared to the non-rotating case for such “moderate” rotation. We investigate the potential for such a (polar) heat transport enhancement in these sub-glacial oceans by direct numerical simulations of RRBC in spherical geometry for Ra=106 and 0.7≤Pr≤4.38. We find an enhancement up to 28% in the “polar tangent cylinder”, which is globally compensated by a reduced heat transport at low latitudes. As a result, the polar heat transport can exceed the equatorial by up to 50%. The enhancement is mostly insensitive to different radial gravity profiles, but decreases for thinner shells. In general, polar heat transport and its enhancement in spherical RRBC follow the same principles as in planar RRBC.
25 Jul 2023Submitted to ESS Open Archive
04 Aug 2023Published in ESS Open Archive