ALBERT

Description: 〈div data-abstract-type="normal"〉〈p〉The onset of thermal convection in a rapidly rotating spherical shell is studied by linear stability analysis based on the fully compressible Navier–Stokes equations. Compressibility is quantified by the number of density scale heights 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline1.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉, which measures the intensity of density stratification of the motionless, polytropic base state. The nearly adiabatic flow with polytropic index 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline2.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉 is considered, where 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline3.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉 is the adiabatic polytropic index. By investigating the stability of the base state with respect to the disturbance of specified wavenumber, the instability process is found to be sensitive to the Prandtl number 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline4.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉 and to 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline5.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉. For large 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline6.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉 and small 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline7.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉, the quasi-geostrophic columnar mode loses stability first; while for relatively small 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline8.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉 a new quasi-geostrophic compressible mode is identified, which becomes unstable first under strong density stratification. The inertial mode can also occur first for relatively small 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline9.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉 and a certain intensity of density stratification in the parameter range considered. Although the Rayleigh numbers 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline10.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉 for the onsets of the quasi-geostrophic compressible mode and columnar mode are different by several orders of magnitude, we find that they follow very similar scaling laws with the Taylor number. The critical 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline11.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉 for convection onset is found to be always positive, in contrast with previous results based on the widely used anelastic model that convection can occur at negative 〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline12.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉. By evaluating the relative magnitude of the time derivative of density perturbation in the continuity equation, we show that the anelastic approximation in the present system cannot be applied in the small-〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline13.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉 and large-〈span〉〈span〉〈img data-mimesubtype="gif" data-type="simple" src="http://static.cambridge.org/resource/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20190628092857401-0357:S0022112019004361:S0022112019004361_inline14.gif"〉 〈span data-mathjax-type="texmath"〉 〈/span〉 〈/span〉〈/span〉 regime.〈/p〉〈/div〉