Turbulence in planetary cores tagged posts

© Thomas Le Reun / Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Equilibre (IRPHE, CNRS/Aix Marseille Université/Centrale Marseille). Left: simulation of a cubic parcel located in the liquid core of a planet disturbed by tidal effects. By focusing their electronic analysis on this reduced domain, researchers have accessed regimes similar to planetary regimes. The flow takes the shape of superimposed waves that interact non-linearly until forming three-dimensional wave inertia turbulence (see vertical vorticity field in the center), by contrast with models where flow becomes larger-scale turbulence structures aligned with the axis of rotation (see vertical vorticity field on the right).