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www.nonlin-processes-geophys.net/15/873/2008/
doi:10.5194/npg-15-873-2008
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Direct and inverse cascades in the geodynamo
1Institute of the Physics of the Earth, Russian Acad. Sci, 123995 Moscow, Russia
2Institute of Geophysics, Academy of Sciences, 141 31 Prague, Czech Republic
Abstract. The rapid rotation of planets causes cyclonic thermal turbulence in their cores which may generate the large-scale magnetic fields observed outside the planets. We investigate numerically a model based on the geodynamo equations in simplified geometry, which enables us to reproduce the main features of small-scale geostrophic flows in physical and wave vector spaces. We find fluxes of kinetic and magnetic energy as a function of the wave number and demonstrate the co-existence of forward and inverse cascades. We also explain the mechanism of magnetic field saturation at the end of the kinematic dynamo regime.
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Citation: Reshetnyak, M. and Hejda, P.: Direct and inverse cascades in the geodynamo, Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 15, 873-880, doi:10.5194/npg-15-873-2008, 2008. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
