Driving solar giant cells through the self-organization of near-surface plumes

The use of a plume boundary condition leads to significant changes in the convective driving realized in the simulated domain and thus to the convective energy transport, the dominant scale of the convective enthalpy flux, and the relative strength of the strongest downflows, the downflow network, and the convective upflows. These changes are present even far from the upper boundary layer. Additionally, we demonstrate that, in spite of significant changes, giant cell morphology in the convective patterns is still achieved with self-organization of the imposed boundary plumes into downflow lanes, cellular patterns, and even rotationally aligned banana cells in equatorial regions.

This plume boundary presents an alternative pathway for 3D global convection simulations where driving is non-local and may provide a new approach toward addressing the convection conundrum.