Geodynamo and mantle convection simulations on the Earth Simulator using the Yin-Yang grid

We have developed finite difference codes based on the Yin-Yang grid for the geodynamo simulation and the mantle convection simulation. The Yin-Yang grid is a kind of spherical overset grid that is composed of two identical component grids. The intrinsic simplicity of the mesh configuration of the Yin-Yang grid enables us to develop highly optimized simulation codes on massively parallel supercomputers. The Yin-Yang geodynamo code has achieved 15.2 Tflops with 4096 processors on the Earth Simulator. This represents 46% of the theoretical peak performance. The Yin-Yang mantle code has enabled us to carry out mantle convection simulations in realistic regimes with a Rayleigh number of $10^7$ including strongly temperature-dependent viscosity with spatial contrast up to $10^6$.Comment: Plenary talk at SciDAC 200

Double-component convection due to different boundary conditions in an infinite slot diversely oriented to the gravity

Onset of small-amplitude oscillatory and both small- and finite-amplitude steady double-component convection arising due to component different boundary conditions in an infinite slot is studied for various slot orientations to the gravity. The main focus is on two compensating background gradients of the components. The physical mechanisms underlying steady and oscillatory convection are analyzed from the perspective of a universally consistent understanding of the effects of different boundary conditions.Comment: V2: Submitted to and published in Annals of Physics. 59 manuscript pages, 15 figures (occupying 21 pages). The full abstract is on the first page. Nonessential modifications/enhancements in the presentation (more compact presentation of the text and figure data, some style improvements, etc.