2001/08/16 by P. Garaud · 6 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.04961.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 329 (2002) 1 · 18 pages, 15 figures, accepted by MNRAS
arxiv created 2001/08/16 · openalex publication_date 2002/01/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Gough & McIntyre have suggested that the dynamics of the solar tachocline are dominated by the advection–diffusion balance between the differential rotation, a large-scale primordial field and baroclinicly driven meridional motions. This paper presents the first part of a study of the tachocline, in which a model of the rotation profile below the convection zone is constructed along the lines suggested by Gough & McIntyre and solved numerically. In this first part, a reduced model of the tachocline is derived in which the effects of compressibility and energy transport on the system are neglected; the meridional motions are driven instead by Ekman–Hartmann pumping. Through this simplification, the interaction of the fluid flow and the magnetic field can be isolated and is studied through non-linear numerical analysis for various field strengths and diffusivities. It is shown that there exists only a narrow range of magnetic field strengths for which the system can achieve a nearly uniform rotation. The results are discussed with respect to observations and to the limitations of this initial approach. A following paper combines the effects of realistic baroclinic driving and stratification with a model that closely follows the lines of work of Gough & McIntyre.