An investigation of planetary convection: The role of boundary layers

Thermal and gravitational energy sources drive turbulent convection in Earth's vast liquid metal outer core. These fluid motions generate the electric currents that are believed to power Earth's magnetic field through a process known as dynamo action. Core flow is subject to the influence of Earth's rotation via the Coriolis force, which has an organizational effect on otherwise chaotic motions. Furthermore the magnetic field generated by convection acts back on the flow via Lorentz forces. Fluid motions in Earth's core, and the magnetic field generating regions of other planets and stars, are then governed by three main ingredients: convection, rotation, and magnetic fields. The goal of my Ph.D. research is to further our understanding of the systematic fluid dynamics occurring in dynamo systems.;To accomplish this, I have developed a unique experimental device that allows me to produce fluid conditions approaching those expected in Earth's core and other planetary and stellar environments. The results presented here stem from a broad parameter survey of non-magnetic, rotating convection. In this study, I examine the interplay between rotation and convection by broadly varying the strength of each and measuring the efficiency of convective heat transfer. This parameter survey allows me to argue that the importance of rotation in convection dynamics is determined by boundary layer physics, where the Ekman (rotating) and thermal (non-rotating) boundary layers compete for control of convection dynamics. I develop a simple predictive scaling of this convective regime transition using theoretical boundary layer thickness scalings. This transition scaling permits a unified description of heat transfer in rotating convection, which reconciles contrasting results from previous studies. I also extend this experimental result to a broad array of numerical dynamo models, arguing that the boundary layer control of convective regimes is also evident in the dynamo models. A notable implication of this regime transition scaling is that it is much easier than previously thought for non-rotating style dynamics to occur in convection experiments and simulations, and perhaps also in planets and stars.