Penetration of Meridional Circulation into a Stably-Stratified Region

Several recent solar dynamo models have been proposed which require the axisymmetric component of the solar meridional circulation (MC) to penetrate substantially below the convective envelope, well into the stably-stratified interior. In this poster we investigate this possibility using a thin-shell approximation which has recently been developed to study the stably-stratified portion of the solar tachocline. Analytic and numerical results are presented for the extent of MC penetration as a function of amplitude and background stratification (represented in the nondimensional thin-shell system as the Rossby and Froude numbers). The results indicate that substantial penetration of the meridional circulation below the convective envelope is unlikely. Furthermore, the analysis is closely related to the classical Ekman layer analysis and may have additional geophysical applications.