Tilted Convective Plumes in a Rotating Fluid: A Finite Angle between the Buoyancy Force and the Axis of Rotation

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SheremetOCE-0116910The shallow water and hydrostatic approximations do not hold for deep convection, implying that the horizontal component of the earth's rotation cannot be neglected. This proposal is to support work to determine how convection in a system where the gravity and rotation vectors are parallel differ from one in which they are not? Preliminary experiments in the latter type of system suggest an eastward advection of the convecting region and general sinking of fluid along a wedge between the directions of gravity and rotation. Two modes of sinking are identified: blobs sink parallel to gravity and leave behind tails parallel to the rotation axis while curtains sink parallel to the rotation axis. Laboratory experiments will be performed to determine the dependence of the characteristics of convection on a three-dimensional parameter space defined by the rotation, the buoyancy flux, and the angle between the rotation and gravity vectors. The PI will also compare the lab results with the output of the MIT model in a hope of verifying one of the many proposed parameterizations present in the model.