Geomagnetic Dynamo Theory

该项目的目的是整合三个- 三维模型的地球发电机，使用一种新的数值 法 与目前大多数研究一样，地球的流体 核心将由对流Boussinesq流体表示。 传统的数值方法不能，由许多数量级的 模拟大旋转的影响， （科里奥利）力，如此有力地影响对流制度 新方法承诺在一个 数量级。 新的程序取决于一个 不寻常的计算网格的选择，已经测试了这么- 被称为地球发电机的"中间模型"， 轴对称磁流体力学（MHD）的过理想化 的核心，并已被发现表现良好。 下一 逻辑步骤是包括地球物理现实（即 动态确定的）不对称性。 新的整合将 希望能帮助解决地球发电机的核心问题之一 这十年的理论：无论是核心的MHD是 控制在核幔边界。

The purpose of this project is to integrate a three- dimensional model of the geodynamo by using a novel numerical method. In common with most current research, the Earth's fluid core will be represented by a convecting Boussinesq fluid. Traditional numerical methods cannot, by many orders of magnitude, simulate the effects of the large rotational (Coriolis) force that so potently affects the convective regime of the core; the new method promises to represent them within an order of magnitude. The new procedure, which depends on an unusual choice of computational grid, has been tested on so- called "intermediate models" of the geodynamo, which are axisymmetric over-idealizations of the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) of the core, and has been found to perform well. The next logical step is to include geophysically realistic (i.e. dynamically determined) asymmetries. The new integrations will hopefully help settle one of the central issues of geodynamo theory of this decade: whether or not the MHD of the core is controlled at the core-mantle boundary.