Evolution of non-linear α 2-dynamos and taylor's constraint

A key non-linear mechanism in a strong-field geodynamo is that a finite amplitude magnetic field drives a flow through the Lorentz force in the momentum equation and this flow feeds back on the field-generation process in the magnetic induction equation, equilibrating the field. We make use of a simpler non-linear?α?²-dynamo to investigate this mechanism in a rapidly rotating fluid spherical shell. Neglecting inertia, we use a pseudo-spectral time-stepping procedure to solve the induction equation and the momentum equation with no-slip velocity boundary conditions for a finitely conducting inner core and an insulating mantle. We present calculations for Ekman numbers (E) in the range 2.5× 10^?3 to 5.0× 10^?5, for?α?=α ₀cos?θ?sin?π?(r?r_i ) (which vanishes on both inner and outer boundaries). Solutions are steady except at lower E and higher values of?α?₀. Then they are periodic with a reversing field and a characteristic rapid increase then equally rapid decrease in magnetic energy. We have investigated the mechanism for this and shown the influence of Taylor's constraint. We comment on the application of our findings to numerical hydrodynamic dynamos.     

Night-to-night changes in the characteristics of gravity waves at stratospheric and lower-mesospheric heights

Observations made with the co-located Rayleigh lidar and MST radar systems at Aberystwyth (52.4°N, 4.1°W) in Wales and radiosondes from Valentia (51.9°N, 10.2°W) in Eire are used to investigate the changes in the vertical propagation of gravity waves during periods of 4 days in June 1995 and February 1993. In each month, the lidar observations show that the wave activity in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere changes between two pairs of days. The radar and radiosonde measurements indicate that mountain waves make no contribution to the changes in intensity. Instead, the changes seem to arise largely from the presence or absence of long-period waves with vertical wavelengths near 8 and 10 km in June and February, respectively. The influence of such waves on the vertical wavenumber spectra is examined and related to the evidence for convective instabilities provided by the temperature profiles.     

Parity coupling in α2-dynamos

Abstract

The modal α²-dynamo of Hollerbach and Ierley (1991) is extended to include both parities, dipolar and quadrupolar. Two choices of α are considered. As before, the solutions approach the Taylor state, and the subsequent equilibration is independent of the viscosity in the asymptotic limit. The first choice of α yields stable steady-state pure-parity solutions of either type, and may yield some insight into the question of parity selection. The second choice of α yields rather complex time-dependent mixed-parity solutions, and demonstrates the extent to which parity coupling can affect the evolution of time-dependent solutions.     

A modal α2-dynamo in the limit of asymptotically small viscosity

Abstract

A spherical α²-dynamo is presented as an expansion in the free decay modes of the magnetic field. In the limit of vanishing viscosity the momentum equation yields various asymptotic expansions for the flow, depending on the precise form of the dissipation and boundary conditions applied. A new form for the dissipation is introduced that greatly simplifies this asymptotic expansion. When these expansions are substituted back into the induction equation, a set of modal amplitude equations is derived, and solved for various distributions of the α-effect. For all choices of α the solutions approach the Taylor state, but the manner in which this occurs can vary, as previously found by Soward and Jones (1983). Furthermore, as hypothesized by Malkus and Proctor (1975), but not previously demonstrated, the post-Taylor equilibration is indeed independent of the viscosity in the asymptotic limit, and depending on the choice of a may be either steady-state or oscillatory.     

On the theory of core-mantle coupling

This article commences by surveying the basic dynamics of Earth's core and their impact on various mechanisms of core-mantle coupling. The physics governing core convection and magnetic field production in the Earth is briefly reviewed. Convection is taken to be a small perturbation from a hydrostatic, “adiabatic reference state” of uniform composition and specific entropy, in which thermodynamic variables depend only on the gravitational potential. The four principal processes coupling the rotation of the mantle to the rotations of the inner and outer cores are analyzed: viscosity, topography, gravity and magnetic field. The gravitational potential of density anomalies in the mantle and inner core creates density differences in the fluid core that greatly exceed those associated with convection. The implications of the resulting “adiabatic torques” on topographic and gravitational coupling are considered. A new approach to the gravitational interaction between the inner core and the mantle, and the associated gravitational oscillations, is presented. Magnetic coupling through torsional waves is studied. A fresh analysis of torsional waves identifies new terms previously overlooked. The magnetic boundary layer on the core-mantle boundary is studied and shown to attenuate the waves significantly. It also hosts relatively high speed flows that influence the angular momentum budget. The magnetic coupling of the solid core to fluid in the tangent cylinder is investigated. Four technical appendices derive, and present solutions of, the torsional wave equation, analyze the associated magnetic boundary layers at the top and bottom of the fluid core, and consider gravitational and magnetic coupling from a more general standpoint. A fifth presents a simple model of the adiabatic reference state.     

The effect of anisotropic heat transport in the earth's core on the geodynamo

Intermediate dynamos are axisymmetric, spherical models that evade Cowling's theorem by invoking an α-effect to create the meridional magnetic field from the zonal. Usually the energy source maintaining the motions is a specified thermal wind, but here the dynamo is driven by the buoyancy created by a uniform distribution of heat sources. It has been argued by Braginsky and Meytlis (this journal, vol. 55, 1990) that, in a rapidly rotating, strongly magnetic system such as the Earth's core, heat is transported principally by a small-scale turbulence that is highly anisotropic. They conclude that the diffusion of heat parallel to the rotation axis is then significantly greater than it is in directions away from that axis. A preliminary study of the consequences of this idea is reported here. Solutions are derived numerically using both isotropic and non-isotropic thermal diffusivity tensors, and the results are compared. It is shown that even a small degree of anisotropy can materially alter the character of the dynamo.     

Magnetic instabilities in rapidly rotating spherical geometries II. more realistic fields and resistive instabilities

Abstract

Magnetic instabilities play an important role in the understanding of the dynamics of the Earth's fluid core. In this paper we continue our study of the linear stability of an electrically conducting fluid in a rapidly rotating, rigid, electrically insulating spherical geometry in the presence of a toroidal basic state, comprising magnetic field B_MB _O(r, θ)1ø and flow U_MU _O(r, θ)1ø The magnetostrophic approximation is employed to numerically analyse the two classes of instability which are likely to be relevant to the Earth. These are the field gradient (or ideal) instability, which requires strong field gradients and strong fields, and the resistive instability, dependent on finite resistivity and the presence of a zero in the basic state B _O(r,θ). Based on a local analysis and numerical results in a cylindrical geometry we have established the existence of the field gradient instability in a spherical geometry for very simple basic states in the first paper of this series. Here, we extend the calculations to more realistic basic states in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the field gradient mode. Having achieved this we turn our attention to the resistive instability. Its presence in a spherical model is confirmed by the numerical calculations for a variety of basic states. The purpose of these investigations is not just to find out which basic states can become unstable but also to provide a quantitative measure as to how strong the field must become before instability occurs. The strength of the magnetic field is measured by the Elsasser number; its critical value _c describing the state of marginal stability. For the basic states which we have studied we find _c 200–1000 for the field gradient mode, whereas for the resistive modes _c 50–160. For the field gradient instability, _c increases rapidly with the azimuthal wavenumber m whereas in the resistive case there is no such pronounced difference for modes corresponding to different values of m. The above values of _c indicate that both types of instability, ideal and resistive, are of relevance to the parameter regime found inside the Earth. For the resistive mode, as is increased from _c, we find a shortening lengthscale in the direction along the contour B_O = 0. Such an effect was not observable in simpler (for example, cylindrical) models.     

Nonlinear waves in rotating magnetohydrodynamics

We consider an electrically conducting fluid in rotating cylindrical coordinates in which the Elsasser and magnetic Reynolds numbers are assumed to be large while the Rossby number is assumed to vanish in an appropriate limit. This may be taken as a simple model for the Earth's outer core. Fully nonlinear waves dominated by the nonlinear Lorentz forces are studied using the method of geometric optics (essentially WKB). These waves are assumed to be of the form of an asymptotic series expanded about ambient magnetic and velocity fields which vanish on the equatorial plane. They take the form of short wave, slowly varying wave trains. The first-order approximation is sinusoidal and basically the same as in the linear problem, with a dispersion relation modified by the appearance of mean terms. These mean terms, as well the undetermined amplitude functions, are found by suppressing secular terms in a “fast” variable in the second-order approximation. The interaction of the mean terms with the dispersion relation is the primary cause of behaviors which differ from the linear case. In particular, new singularities appear in the wave amplitude functions and an initial value problem results in a singularity in one of the mean terms which propagates through the fluid. The singularities corresponding to the linear ones are shown to develop when the corresponding waves propagate toward the equatorial plane.     

Thermal and magnetically driven instabilities in a non-constantly stratified fluid layer

Abstract

The linear hydromagnetic stability of a non-constantly stratified horizontal fluid layer permeated by an azimuthal non-homogeneous magnetic field is investigated for various widths of the stably stratified part of the layer in the geophysical limit q→0 (q is the ratio of thermal and magnetic diffusivities). The choice of the strength of the magnetic field B_o is as in Soward (1979) (see also Soward and Skinner, 1988) and the equations for the disturbances are treated as in Fearn and Proctor (1983). It was found that convection is developed in the whole layer regardless of the width of its stably stratified part. The thermal instability penetrates essentially from the unstably stratified part of the layer into the stably stratified part for A ～ 1 (A characterises the ratio of the Lorentz and Coriolis forces). When the magnetic field is strong (A>1) the thermal convection is suppressed in the stably stratified part of the layer. However, in this case, it is replaced by the magnetically driven instability; which is fully developed in the whole layer. The thermal instabilities always propagate westward and exist for all the modes m. The magnetically driven instabilities propagate either westward or eastward according to the width of the stably and unstably stratified parts and exist only for the mode m=1.     

Magnetic instabilities in rapidly rotating spherical geometries. III. The effect of differential rotation

Abstract

We investigate the influence of differential rotation on magnetic instabilities for an electrically conducting fluid in the presence of a toroidal basic state of magnetic field B ₀ = B_MB₀(r, θ)1 _φ and flow U₀ = U_MU₀ (r, θ)1_φ, [(r, θ, φ) are spherical polar coordinates]. The fluid is confined in a rapidly rotating, electrically insulating, rigid spherical container. In the first instance the influence of differential rotation on established magnetic instabilities is studied. These can belong to either the ideal or the resistive class, both of which have been the subject of extensive research in parts I and II of this series. It was found there, that in the absence of differential rotation, ideal modes (driven by gradients of B ₀) become unstable for A_c ? 200 whereas resistive instabilities (generated by magnetic reconnection processes near critical levels, i.e. zeros of B₀) require A_c ? 50. Here, Λ is the Elsasser number, a measure of the magnetic field strength and Λ_c is its critical value at marginal stability. Both types of instability can be stabilised by adding differential rotation into the system. For the resistive modes the exact form of the differential rotation is not important whereas for the ideal modes only a rotation rate which increases outward from the rotation axis has a stabilising effect. We found that in all cases which we investigated Λ_c increased rapidly and the modes disappeared when R_m ≈ O(Λ_C), where the magnetic Reynolds number R_m is a measure of the strength of differential rotation. The main emphasis, however, is on instabilities which are driven by unstable gradients of the differential rotation itself, i.e. an otherwise stable fluid system is destabilised by a suitable differential rotation once the magnetic Reynolds number exceeds a certain critical value (R_m )_c. Earlier work in the cylindrical geometry has shown that the differential rotation can generate an instability if R_m ) ?O(Λ). Those results, obtained for a fixed value of Λ = 100 are extended in two ways: to a spherical geometry and to an analysis of the effect of the magnetic field strength Λ on these modes of instability. Calculations confirm that modes driven by unstable gradients of the differential rotation can exist in a sphere and they are in good agreement with the local analysis and the predictions inferred from the cylindrical geometry. For Λ = O(100), the critical value of the magnetic Reynolds number (R_m )_c Λ 100, depending on the choice of flow U₀ . Modes corresponding to azimuthal wavenumber m = 1 are the most unstable ones. Although the magnetic field B ₀ is itself a stable one, the field strength plays an important role for this instability. For all modes investigated, both for cylindrical and spherical geometries, (R_m )_c reaches a minimum value for 50 ≈ Λ ≈ 100. If Λ is increased, (R_m )_c ∝ Λ, whereas a decrease of Λ leads to a rapid increase of (R_m )_c, i.e. a stabilisation of the system. No instability was found for Λ ≈ 10 — 30. Optimum conditions for instability driven by unstable gradients of the differential rotation are therefore achieved for ≈ Λ 50 — 100, R_m ? 100. These values lead to the conclusion that the instabilities can play an important role in the dynamics of the Earth's core.     

Hydromagnetic waves in a differentially rotating annulus IV. Insulating boundaries

Abstract

The first three papers in this series (Fearn, 1983b, 1984, 1985) have investigated the stability of a strong toroidal magnetic field B_o =B_o(s?)Φ [where (s?. Φ, z?) are cylindrical polars] in a rapidly rotating system. The application is to the cores of the Earth and the planets but a simpler cylindrical geometry was chosen to permit a detailed study of the instabilities present. A further simplification was the use of electrically perfectly conducting boundary conditions. Here, we replace these with the boundary conditions appropriate to an insulating container. As expected, we find the same instabilities as for a perfectly conducting container, with quantitative changes in the critical parameters but no qualitative differences except for some interesting mixing between the ideal (“field gradient”) and resistive modes for azimuthal wavenumber m=1. In addition to these modes, we have also found the “exceptional” slow mode of Roberts and Loper (1979) and we investigate the conditions required for its instability for a variety of fields B_o(s?) Roberts and Loper's analysis was restricted to the case B_o∝s? and they found instability only for m=1 and ?1 <ω<0 [where ω is the frequency non-dimensionalised on the slow timescale τ_x, see (1.5)]. For other fields we found the necessary conditions to be less “exceptional”. One surprising feature of this instability is the importance of inertia for its existence. We show that viscosity is an alternative destabilising agent. The standard (magnetostrophic) approximation of neglecting inertial (and viscous) terms in the equation of motion has the effect of filtering out this instability. The field strength required for this “exceptional” mode to become unstable is found to be very much larger than that thought to be present in the Earth's core, so we conclude that this mode is unlikely to play an important role in the dynamics of the core.     

大功率高频电波加热电离层中参量衰减不稳定性研究(1):数值模拟

参量衰减不稳定性(Parametric Decay Instability,PDI)在大功率高频(High frequency,HF)电波与电离层等离子体相互作用的过程中扮演着十分重要的角色,本文采用广义Zakharov方法对常规的等离子体流体力学方程组进行相应处理后,并在近似实际的电离层背景和电波传播模型下,构建了高频电波加热电离层激发PDI的数值计算模型.模拟结果发现:在毫秒量级的时间尺度上,大功率高频电波在寻常波(Ordinary wave,O波)反射点高度附近激发出了朗缪尔波(Langmuir wave)和离子声波(Ion-Acoustic wave)两种等离子体静电波模,模拟中产生的朗缪尔波和离子声波相应波数为5~11rad·m~(-1),结果与利用色散关系求出的理论值4~7 rad·m~(-1)近似一致,密度扰动幅值从10~6m~(-3)量级指数级增长到了10~(10)m~(-3)量级,直至能显著影响与"低频"密度背景相关的等离子体频率后,出现了等离子体"空穴"结构以及朗缪尔波被"俘获"现象,在扰动空间内的小尺度静电场幅值最高能达到100 V·m~(-1)量级,最终造成一种强烈的局地化"空穴"湍流现象.本文的研究有助于深入理解PDI的物理机制,对研究大功率高频电波与电离层等离子体之间复杂的非线性相互作用也有着非常重要的意义.     

Scattering of internal waves in a two-layer fluid flowing through a channel with small undulations

Using two-dimensional linear water wave theory, we consider the problem of normal water wave (internal wave) propagation over small undulations in a channel flow consisting of a two-layer fluid in which the upper layer is bounded by a fixed wall, an approximation to the free surface, and the lower one is bounded by a bottom surface that has small undulations. The effects of surface tension at the surface of separation is neglected. Assuming irrotational motion, a perturbation analysis is employed to calculate the first-order corrections to the velocity potentials in the two-layer fluid by using Green’s integral theorem in a suitable manner and the reflection and transmission coefficients in terms of integrals involving the shape function c(x) representing the bottom undulation. Two special forms of the shape function are considered for which explicit expressions for reflection and transmission coefficients are evaluated. For the specific case of a patch of sinusoidal ripples having the same wave number throughout, the reflection coefficient up to the first order is an oscillatory function in the quotient of twice the interface wave number and the ripple wave number. When this quotient approaches one, the theory predicts a resonant interaction between the bed and the interface, and the reflection coefficient becomes a multiple of the number of ripples. High reflection of the incident wave energy occurs if this number is large. Again, when a patch of sinusoidal ripples having two different wave numbers for two consecutive stretches is considered, the interaction between the bed and the interface near resonance attains in the neighborhood of two (singular) points along the x-axis (when the ripple wave number of the bottom undulation become approximately twice as large as the interface wave number). The theoretical observations are presented in graphical form.     

Propagation of oblique waves over small bottom undulation in an ice-covered two-layer fluid

Scattering of oblique incident waves by small bottom undulation in a two-layer fluid, where the upper layer has a thin ice-cover while the lower one has the undulation, is investigated within the framework of linearized water wave theory. The ice-cover is being modeled as an elastic plate of very small thickness. There exist two modes of time-harmonic waves–one with lower wave number propagating along the ice-cover (ice-cover mode) and the other with higher wave number along the interface (interfacial mode). A perturbation analysis is employed to solve the corresponding boundary value problem governed by modified Helmholtz equation and thereby evaluating the reflection and transmission coefficients approximately up to first order for both modes. A patch of sinusoidal ripples, having two different wave numbers over two consecutive stretches, is considered as an example and the related coefficients are determined. It is observed that when the wave is incident on the ice-cover surface we always find energy transfer to the interface, but for interfacial incident waves there are parameter ranges for which no energy transfer to the ice-cover surface is possible. Also it is observed that for small angles of incidence, the reflected energy is more as compared to the other angles of incidence. These results are demonstrated in graphical form. From the derived results, the solutions for problems with free surface can be obtained as particular cases.     

Linear mechanism of generation and intencification of internal gravity waves in the ionosphere at their interaction with a nonuniform zonal wind: 1. Model of the medium and initial dynamic equations

The specific features of the generation and intensification of internal gravity wave structures in different atmospheric-ionospheric regions, caused by zonal local nonuniform winds (shear flows), are studied. The model of the medium has been explained and an initial closed system of equations has been obtained in order to study the linear and nonlinear dynamics of internal gravity waves (IGWs) when they interact with the geomagnetic field in a dissipative ionosphere (for the D, E, and F regions).     

Seasonal variation of space–time parameters of internal gravity waves at Kharkiv (49°30′N, 36°51′E)

Internal gravity waves (IGWs) over Kharkiv (49°30′N, 36°51′E) have been studied by using an automatic goniometer of a meteor radar (AG MR), with its antenna directed to the East. The AG MR carries out Doppler measurements of the radial drift velocity and the position of the reflecting area of meteor trails. In order to obtain information about IGW parameters, an algorithm was used that processes the AG MR wind data by dividing the measured volume into several sub-volumes, and by carrying out wavelet analysis of wind variations in these areas. Results of 1 year (1987) of AG MR data show a good qualitative correspondence with literature results. There is an increase of IGW activity during the change of the zonal background wind in spring and autumn. It was found that the mean IGW horizontal phase velocity and predominating horizontal propagation direction change with season. However, the mean period (1.5 h), the dominant amplitude (30 m/s) and the vertical phase velocity do not strongly vary in the course of the year. The mean vertical and horizontal wavelengths were found to be 40 and 250 km, respectively.