Accessing the dipole-multipole transition in rapidly rotating spherical shell dynamos

TL;DR

This paper introduces a path theory approach to identify the dipole-multipole transition in rapidly rotating spherical shell dynamos, advancing understanding of Earth's magnetic field reversals under realistic conditions.

Contribution

The authors develop a unidimensional path theory based on constant magnetic Reynolds number to efficiently locate the dipole-multipole transition in dynamo simulations at low Ekman numbers.

Findings

Simulations agree with predictions within accessible parameter space.

Increasing buoyancy allows access to the dipole-multipole transition at low Ekman numbers.

Conditions for transition become increasingly unrealistic at extreme parameters.

Abstract

Polarity reversals are a key feature of Earth's magnetic field, yet the processes governing them are still poorly understood. Dipole reversals have been found in many numerical dynamo simulations and often occur close to the transition between dipolar and multipolar regimes. Simulated conditions are far from those in Earth's liquid iron core because of the long runtimes needed to capture polarity transitions. We develop a unidimensional path theory in an attempt to simplify the search for the dipole-multipole transition at increasingly realistic physical conditions. We build 3 paths, all based on a constant magnetic Reynolds number $Rm$; one aiming for Magnetic, Coriolis, and Archimedean (MAC), and 2 aiming for inertia-MAC force balance. We add inertia due to its role in simulated reversals. Results show reasonable agreement with predictions within the accessible parameter space, but deviate from predicted behaviour for certain quantities, e.g. magnetic field strength and magnetic/kinetic energy ratio. Further, simulations move into the dipolar non-reversing regime as they are advanced along the path. By increasing the buoyancy driving (via higher Rayleigh number) above the values predicted by the path theory, we are able to access the dipole-multipole transition down to an Ekman number $E\sim 10^{-6}$, comparable to the most extreme conditions reported to date. Results demonstrate that our approach is an efficient method for seeking the dipole-multipole transition at low $E$. However, the conditions under which we access the dipole-multipole transition become increasingly hard to access numerically and also increasingly unrealistic because $Rm$ rises beyond plausible bounds inferred from geophysical observations. Future work combining path theory with variations in the core buoyancy distribution, appears a promising approach to accessing the transition at extreme physical conditions.