Is the forced two-dimensional model “good” enough to describe banded structures on giant planets ?

Kiori Obuse (Okayama University) — February 11, 2016

Banded structure is one of the most distinctive features we observe on giant planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, and lots of study has been done to discuss the existence and the robustness of this structure. In this talk, we consider randomly forced two-dimensional incompressible flow on a rotating sphere. This is one of the most basic models for planetary atmospheres, and is known to show a banded structure in the flow field in the course of time development. In the first half of my talk, we investigate large time asymptotic states of this flow by using numerical simulation. Then, we discuss the mechanism of merging and disappearing processes of zonal jets by using weakly nonlinear analysis and numerical simulations.

Biography :
Kiori Obuse got her Ph.D. from Kyoto University (Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences), Japan, in 2012, and then worked as an assistant professor at Advanced Institute for Materials Research at Tohoku University from 2012 to 2015. Since 2015, she is an assistant professor at graduate school of environmental and life science at Okayama University. She is an applied mathematician, interested in nonlinear phenomena, especially fluid dynamics.

You can also watch this video on the multimedia site ENS : savoirs.ens.fr