Large-scale vortices in rapidly rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection
Large-scale vortices in rapidly rotating Rayleigh–Bénard convection
Abstract Using numerical simulations of rapidly rotating Boussinesq convection in a Cartesian box, we study the formation of long-lived, large-scale, depth-invariant coherent structures. These structures, which consist of concentrated cyclones, grow to the horizontal scale of the box, with velocities significantly larger than the convective motions. We vary the rotation …