Turbulent viscosity measurements relevant to planetary core-mantle dynamics

Laboratory experiments that combine thermal convection in a rapidly rotating shell with a sudden increase of the shell’s rotation rate (spin-up) enable us to study processes related to turbulent viscous coupling between planetary fluid cores and solid mantles. We experimentally measure the large-scale effective viscosity by determining how the synchronisation time between the fluid and the shell (called the spin-up time) is shortened when convective turbulence exists in the bulk of the fluid. Our experiments suggest that viscous core-mantle coupling in planets may be greater than has been previously estimated using molecular viscosity values.