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[30.05] Fluid Flow in the Interior of Rapidly Rotating Giant Planets with and without Solid Cores

M. Evonuk, G. A. Glatzmaier (UCSC)

It is likely that some of the giant extrasolar gaseous planets, and possibly Jupiter, do not possess solid cores. To gain a preliminary understanding of the influence a solid core has on the convective patterns in the deep interior of these planets and their effect on the surface zonal flow of the planet, we use a 2D finite volume code to simulate thermal convection in a rapidly rotating density-stratified fluid disk with and without a solid core. The results of the three cases are compared: two with cores of different sizes and one case without a core. We find higher kinetic energy densities in the cases with a small core or no core than in the case with a larger core suggesting possible correlation between surface zonal wind velocities and structure at depth.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.