Numerical Dynamo Simulations: From Basic Concepts to Realistic Models

Stellmach, Stephan; Harder, Helmut

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-27793-1_16-2

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 153 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, such flux patches are not necessarily connected to boundary heterogeneity. Mobile low-latitude flux patches are seen in numerical dynamos without boundary heterogeneity when a strong enough influence of rotation on outer core convection is present (Wicht et al 2011).…”

Section: Relevant Observed Planetary Dynamo Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Towards more realistic core-mantle boundary heat flux patterns: a source of diversity in planetary dynamos

Amit

Choblet

Olson

et al. 2015

Prog. in Earth and Planet. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mantle control on planetary dynamos is often studied by imposing heterogeneous core-mantle boundary (CMB) heat flux patterns on the outer boundary of numerical dynamo simulations. These patterns typically enter two main categories: Either they are proportional to seismic tomography models of Earth's lowermost mantle to simulate realistic conditions, or they are represented by single spherical harmonics for fundamental physical understanding. However, in reality the dynamics in the lower mantle is much more complicated and these CMB heat flux models are most likely oversimplified. Here we term alternative any CMB heat flux pattern imposed on numerical dynamos that does not fall into these two categories, and instead attempts to account for additional complexity in the lower mantle. We review papers that attempted to explain various dynamo-related observations by imposing alternative CMB heat flux patterns on their dynamo models. For present-day Earth, the alternative patterns reflect non-thermal contributions to seismic anomalies or sharp features not resolved by global tomography models. Time-dependent mantle convection is invoked for capturing past conditions on Earth's CMB. For Mars, alternative patterns account for localized heating by a giant impact or a mantle plume. Recovered geodynamo-related observations include persistent morphological features of present-day core convection and the geomagnetic field as well as the variability in the geomagnetic reversal frequency over the past several hundred Myr. On Mars the models aim at explaining the demise of the paleodynamo or the hemispheric crustal magnetic dichotomy. We report the main results of these studies, discuss their geophysical implications, and speculate on some future prospects.

show abstract

Section: Relevant Observed Planetary Dynamo Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 97%