Dynamics of the Earth, planets and exoplanets: Applications of numerical modelling to the geomagnetic field, planetary dynamos and planetary atmospheres

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The evolution and dynamics of planetary bodies are governed by heat flow, fluid motions in the presence of planetary rotation, and electromagnetism where the electrical conductivity is sufficiently high. I propose to carry out research in three main areas of planetary fluid dynamics, addressing a range of fundamental questions for terrestrial and giant planets: dynamics of the terrestrial planet dynamos (Mercury, Earth and early Mars), focussing on Earth's core and evolution of its magnetic field over multiple timescales; interaction of vortices, zonal flows, and the deeper dynamos of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; and interaction of zonal flow and dynamo action in extrasolar planets, with focus on Jupiter-sized bodies in orbits relatively close to their parent star. This research program involves theoretical and numerical modelling of deep flow and convection, and generation of global magnetic fields. Our ongoing goal is to advance understanding and solve current scientific problems in Earth and planetary dynamics. This has resulted in major papers published in a diversity of journals such as Nature, Nature Geoscience, Geophysical Research Letters, Astrophysical Journal, and others, that advance the understanding of the dynamical evolution of several of the solar system planets, particularly Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, as well as exoplanets. Much of this research program benefits from collaborations with local and global partners: 1. Dynamics of Planetary Interiors. Primary collaborators and institutes: Computational Infrastructure for Geodynamics (CIG), Professor Jonathan Aurnou at UCLA, USA, Professor Johannes Wicht at the MPI for Solar System research, Germany, and Thomas Gastine at the Institute de Physique du Globe, in France. These collaborations involve theoretical and numerical modelling of fluid dynamics and magnetohydrodynamics applied to planetary atmospheres and interiors. Applications include the generation of Mercury's global magnetic field via dynamo action, and the dynamical relationship between zonal flows and deeper dynamos in giant planets. 2. Collaboration with Michael (Ted) Evans (U of A) and Lauri Pesonen (Helsinki) combines 3D numerical models of the geodynamo with observations of the Earth's magnetic field over various timescales. We use observational data sets, which include a variety of sources such as satellite data, navigational and other historical measurements, archeomagnetic and lake bed sedimentary data. For longer term observations we use paleomagnetic data. 3. All of these projects are supported by NSERC and by Compute Canada, which provides the use of shared and distributed memory supercomputers. The collaboration with CIG and Jonathan Aurnou is additionally supported by the USA Argonne National Laboratory computing facility.