Stable stratification at the top of the Earth’s outer core has been suggested based upon seismic and geomagnetic observations, however, the origin of the layer is still unknown. In this paper we focus on a thermal origin for the layer and conduct a systematic study on the thermal evolution of the core. We develop a new numerical code to model the growth of thermally stable layers beneath the CMB, integrated into a thermodynamic model for the long term evolution of the core. We conduct a systematic study on plausible thermal histories using a range of core properties and, combining thickness and stratification strength constraints, investigate the limits upon the present day structure of the thermal layer. We find that whilst there are a number of scenarios for the history of the CMB heat flow, Qc, that give rise to thermal stratification, many of them are inconsistent with previously published exponential trends in Qc from mantle evolution models. Layers formed due to an exponentially decaying Qc are limited to 250-400 km thick and have maximum present-day Brunt-Va ̈isa ̈l ̈a periods, TBV = 8 − 24 hrs. When entrainment of the lowermost region of the layer is included in our model, the upper limit of the layer size is reduced and can fully inhibit the growth of any layer if our non-dimensional measure of entrainment, E > 0.2. The period TBV is insensitive to the evolution and so our estimates remain distinct from estimates arising from a chemical origin. Therefore, TBV should be able to discern between thermal and chemical mechanisms as improved seismic constraints are obtained.
Unlike Earth, Mars does not possess an internally generated global magnetic field. However, analysis of vector magnetic measurements from the MGS and MAVEN satellites reveals remnant magnetization, suggesting the presence of a strong global magnetic field early in Mars history (
Stable stratification at the top of the Earth's outer core has been suggested based upon seismic and geomagnetic observations, however, the origin of the layer is still unknown. In this paper we focus on a thermal origin for the layer and conduct a systematic study on the thermal evolution of the core. We develop a new numerical code to model the growth of thermally stable layers beneath the CMB, integrated into a thermodynamic model for the long term evolution of the core. We conduct a systematic study on plausible thermal histories using a range of core properties and, combining thickness and stratification strength constraints, investigate the limits upon the present day structure of the thermal layer. We find that whilst there are a number of scenarios for the history of the CMB heat flow, Q c , that give rise to thermal stratification, many of them are inconsistent with previously published exponential trends in Q c from mantle evolution models. Layers formed due to an exponentially decaying Q c are limited to 250-400 km thick and have maximum present-day Brunt-Väisälä periods, T BV = 8 − 24 hrs. When entrainment of the lowermost region of the layer is included in our model, the upper limit of the layer size is reduced and can fully inhibit the growth of any layer if our non-dimensional measure of entrainment, E > 0.2. The period T BV is insensitive to the evolution and so our estimates remain distinct from estimates arising from a chemical origin. Therefore, T BV should be able to discern between thermal and chemical mechanisms as improved seismic constraints are obtained.
Thermo-chemical interactions at the core-mantle boundary (CMB) play an integral role in determining the dynamics and evolution Earth's deep interior. This review considers the processes in the core that arise from heat and mass transfer at the CMB, with particular focus on thermo-chemical stratification and the precipitation of oxides. A fundamental parameter is the thermal conductivity of the core, which we estimate as k = 70 − 110 W m −1 K −1 at CMB conditions based on consistent extrapolation from a number of recent studies. These high conductivity values imply the existence of an early basal magma ocean (BMO) overlying a hot core and rapid cooling potentially leading to a loss of power to the dynamo before the inner core formed around 0.5 − 1 Gyrs ago, the so-called "new core paradox". Coupling core thermal evolution modelling and calculations of chemical equilibrium between liquid iron and silicate melts suggests that FeO dissolved into the core after its formation, creating a stably stratified chemical layer below the CMB, while precipitation of MgO and SiO 2 was delayed until the last 2−3 Gyrs and was therefore not available to power the early dynamo; however, once initiated, precipitation supplied ample power for field generation. We also present a possible solution to the new core paradox without requiring precipitation or radiogenic heating using k = 70 W m −1 K −1 . The model matches the present inner core size and heat flow and temperature at the top of the
Aerostat development and testing costs often suffer from a lack of scalability. In particular, it very difficult to fabricate an inexpensive lighter-than-air system that can be evaluated in a lab environment, since the maximum allowable mass of the aerostat becomes prohibitively low for small length scales. This paper presents an evaluation of a novel water channel-based platform for assessing the flight dynamics of aerostats at a very small scale, in a lab environment, for a very low cost. Altaeros Energies' buoyant airborne turbine (BAT) is used as a case study to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Specifically, we identify important dynamic scaling properties and show how the water channel experiments are run to match these properties closely in the water channel vs. full-scale settings. We then show how the water channel results can be used in concert with a simulation model to predict the performance of the full-scale system. The ultimate result is a design which, after an inexpensive evaluation process, can proceed to a larger-scale prototype stage with a high degree of confidence in its success.
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