Meridional circulation and the redistribution of heat in the solar convective envelope.
Abstract
The axisymmetric linear modes of convection of a rotating Boussinesq fluid with a constant horizontal temperature gradient are investigated. The redistribution of heat by these modes imposes approximate limits on the latitudinal temperature gradients that may exist in a stellar convective envelope, with important consequences for the extent of large-scale meridional circulation. The analysis demonstrates that it is possible to construct models of the solar envelope incorporating a meridional cell sufficient to account for the differential rotation without violating the observational constraints on the latitudinal variation of heat flux from the photosphere.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- March 1979
- DOI:
- 10.1086/156887
- Bibcode:
- 1979ApJ...228..624B
- Keywords:
-
- Atmospheric Circulation;
- Convective Heat Transfer;
- Meridional Flow;
- Solar Atmosphere;
- Solar Rotation;
- Stellar Envelopes;
- Boussinesq Approximation;
- Convective Flow;
- Heat Flux;
- Stellar Models;
- Temperature Gradients;
- Solar Physics;
- Convection:Stellar Envelopes;
- Solar Rotation