Dynamics of the deep water formation in the ocean--experimental approach--

研究了刚性边界条件下旋转对流的水平尺度。瑞利数的范围是适中的，即大到足以引起有限幅度对流，但小到足以引起显著的地转过程。考虑努塞尔特数的经验规律和基本地转过程的一些约束，可以估计对流的水平尺度。这一估计强烈依赖于Ekman层和热边界层厚度之比，而不是单调地依赖于瑞利数。这种相关性与Rossby(1969)的实验结果是一致的。估计的水平尺度被实验室实验所验证。用分散在工作液中的热液晶体胶囊显示水平温度分布。水平尺度的测量是通过计算涡量来实现的。实验结果与预估规模吻合较好。

Horizontal scale of rotating convection with rigid boundary conditions is studied. The range of Rayleigh number concerned is moderate, i.e., large enough to induce a finite amplitude convection but small enough so that the geostrophic processes are significant.Considering experimental law of Nusselt number and some constraints of elemental geostrophic processes, the horizontal scale of the convection can be estimated. This estimation strongly depends on the ratio between thicknesses of the Ekman layr and the thermal boundary layr, and does not depend monotonically on the Rayleigh number. This dependency is compatible with the experimental results of Rossby (1969).The estimated horizontal scale was checked by laboratory experiments. The horizontal temperature distribution was visualized by thermal 1iquid crystal capsules dispersed in the working fluid. The horizontal scale was measured by counting vortices. The experimental results agrees fairly well with the estimated scale.