Ohmic heating of a giant planet

ID: ohmic-heating-of-a-giant-planet

Atmospheric winds across a magnetic field can induce electric currents. Their Ohmic heating converts mechanical energy into heat, at local rate in the simplest resistive description. To maintain hot-Jupiter radius inflation, current paths and deposited heat must influence the deep interior; dissipation restricted to optically thin upper layers need not maintain the planet's entropy.

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