Accounting for surface temperature variations in Rayleigh-Bénard convection

Abstract

Turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection is often modelled with a constant surface temperature. However, the surface temperature of many geophysical systems, such as lakes, is coupled to the atmospheric forcing. In this paper, we account for this dynamic surface temperature through an additional parameter $\beta$. Using an appropriately defined dynamical Rayleigh number $\RaD$, we recover many of the results from the standard Rayleigh-Bénard model. We hope that this work will simplify the application of Rayleigh-Bénard theory in geophysical contexts, such as lakes.

arXiv comment10 pages, 4 figures