event
Monday 20 Jul 2009: Maximum Entropy Production in planetary atmospheres
Dr Tim Jupp - University of Exeter
Physics, 4th Floor interaction area 12:00-13:00
Atmospheric motions constitute a heat engine. As energy flows down temperature gradients from the tropics to the poles, so entropy is produced. Observations, and numerical simulations, suggest that the terrestrial atmosphere produces entropy at the "maximum possible rate". The currently developing theory of Maximum Entropy Production (MEP) provides a framework for interpreting these observations. In this talk I shall give an overview of MEP theory and its application to planetary atmospheres. In particular, the influence of surface drag on atmospheric entropy production is examined. A simple dynamical model is used to give insight into previous numerical results. The dependence of the MEP state on parameters such as planetary radius and rotation rate is then used to extrapolate the results to other planets.
