Effects of Granulation upon Larger-Scale Convection

TL;DR

This study investigates how small-scale surface granulation influences larger-scale convection patterns and differential rotation in a simulated rotating spherical shell, revealing that granulation can drive supergranulation and solar-like rotation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel modeling approach where localized cooling events simulate granulation, demonstrating their role in larger-scale convection and differential rotation.

Findings

Granulation-driven cooling can produce supergranulation scales.

Supergranulation enhances solar-like differential rotation.

Localized cooling events effectively simulate surface granulation effects.

Abstract

We examine the role of small-scale granulation in helping to drive supergranulation and even larger scales of convection. The granulation is modeled as localized cooling events introduced at the upper boundary of a 3-D simulation of compressible convection in a rotating spherical shell segment. With a sufficient number of stochastic cooling events compared to uniform cooling, we find that supergranular scales are realized, along with a differential rotation that becomes increasingly solar-like.