Zonal jets experiments in the gas giants' zonostrophic regime
Daphn\'e Lemasquerier, Benjamin Favier, Michael Le Bars

TL;DR
This study experimentally replicates the formation of zonal jets in gas giants using a rotating water tank, validating the zonostrophic turbulence theory and analyzing potential vorticity mixing in a three-dimensional framework.
Contribution
First experimental validation of zonostrophic turbulence theory in a fully three-dimensional setting relevant to gas giants.
Findings
Zonal jets spontaneously emerge and contain up to 70% of kinetic energy.
Spectral properties match theoretical predictions in the zonostrophic regime.
Moderate PV mixing occurs due to strong forcing and dissipation.
Abstract
Intense east-west winds called zonal jets are observed in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn and extend in their deep interior. We present experimental results from a fully three-dimensional laboratory analog of deep gas giants zonal jets. We use a rapidly rotating deep cylindrical tank, filled with water, and forced by a small-scale hydraulic circulation at the bottom. A topographic -effect is naturally present because of the curvature of the free surface. Instantaneous turbulent zonal jets spontaneously emerge from the small-scale forcing, equilibrate at large scale, and can contain up to 70% of the total kinetic energy of the flow once in a quasi-steady state. We show that the spectral properties of the experimental flows are consistent with the theoretical predictions in the zonostrophic turbulence regime, argued to be relevant to gas giants. This constitutes the first…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAstro and Planetary Science · Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena · Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies
