Research Interests
There are currently three main areas of research interest. The first is the transition to turbulence in fluid systems, including nonlinear steady and time-dependent states of fluid flow in the plane and circular Couette systems; higher bifurcations in thermal convection; interaction of convection with magnetic fields; and resonances and nonlinear time dependence in superimposed convection layers; bounds on transport by turbulent fluid systems. The second, the dynamics of rotating fluids, which includes thermal convection driven by centrifugal buoyancy (experiments and theory); convection in rotating spherical fluid shells with applications to planetary atmospheres and cores; Ekman layer instabilities; fluid flows in precessing containers; and phase turbulence in convection layers rotating about a vertical axis (experiments and theory). The third area is the dynamo theory of the generation of magnetic fields by fluid motions, which includes the theory of the geodynamo and of geomagnetic secular variations and the theory of planned laboratory dynamo experiments.
Membership Type
International Member
Election Year
1993
Primary Section
Section 16: Geophysics