Computer simulations of convection and magnetic field generation in planets

Dr. Glatzmaier will describe his studies of fluid flows and the magnetic fields they generate in the electrically conducting interiors of terrestrial planets, like the Earth, of giant planets, like Jupiter, and of satellites, like Europa, that orbit around giant planets. Dr. Glatzmaier develops computer models that solve a set of coupled nonlinear differential equations that describe the main physics of the problem in order to simulate the 3D time-dependent evolution of the flows and fields. He will show computer graphical movies of several simulations and discuss what we learn from them.