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An upward volume flux $Q$ and a downward turbulent buoyancy transport $d^4(G_z{)}^{3/2}$ balance in a steady reactor. Matching $G=G_z=0$ below $-H$ gives $QG=d^4(G_z{)}^{3/2}$. Integrating yields the cubic profile above the front. If downward source buoyancy flux is $B_s$, then $H=3d^{8/3}{B}_s^{1/3}/Q$. The corresponding eddy diffusivity is $K=Q(z+H)/(3d^2)$. All these prefactors use the same area and mixing-length normalization; an actual cross-sectional area $S$ replaces the denominator in $K$ by $3S$.

For positive dense-fluid reduced gravity $G$ and upward coordinate $z$, an unstable gradient $G_z>0$ supplies buoyant work of order $d^2{G}_z$ over mixing length $d$. velocity $u\sim d\sqrt{G_z}$ and eddy diffusivity $K\sim ud$ follow. Order-one constants depend on the turbulence model. This closure is for an unstable gradient; its square root must not be applied to a stable negative gradient.

For a vertical eddy diffusivity $K_{zz}$, mixing over a length $\ell$ takes ${\tau }_{\mathrm{mix}}\sim {\ell }^2/K_{zz}$. The condition that transport outrun a chemical relaxation time therefore gives $K_{zz}\gtrsim {\ell }^2/{\tau }_{\mathrm{chem}}$. Taking $\ell =0.1H$ instead of one atmospheric scale height $H$ changes this estimate by a factor of one hundred. The atmospheric scale height itself depends on both temperature and gravity.

Mixing by turbulence is represented approximately by a diffusive flux down a mean concentration gradient. Its coefficient is the eddy diffusivity. A constant-coefficient model gives a $D{\nabla }^2\sigma$ term and a smoothing rate $D{k}^2$ for a Fourier mode. Effective diffusion can suppress slow gravitational concentration even when microscopic diffusion is negligible.

For downward settling velocity magnitude $W_s>0$ and eddy diffusivity ${\kappa }_T=Kz$, the total upward particle flux is $J=-W_s\varphi -Kz{\varphi }_z$. A stationary profile tending to zero at infinity has $J=0$, giving the displayed power law. The exponent compares settling with turbulent mixing. It describes a region above the bed; entrainment from the bed and viscous near-wall effects determine the reference concentration separately.

For stationary horizontally homogeneous means, incompressibility gives ${\bar{w}}_z=0$ and the impermeable boundary makes $\bar{w}=0$ throughout. With no imposed horizontal mean pressure gradient, the balances reduce toThe last equation includes the vertical Reynolds stress; omitting it requires an additional small-normal-stress approximation. The total vertical buoyancy flux is $B_0$ and the horizontal momentum flux is a signed constant $J_M$ with $|J_M|=U_{\ast }^2$. These are fluxes per unit reference density.

The local down-gradient closure defines eddy viscosity and eddy diffusivity byA parcel moving upwards typically retains the smaller momentum or scalar value from its previous height in an increasing mean profile; its fluctuation then correlates negatively with upward motion. This motivates positive coefficients, but is a closure assumption, not a universal theorem about turbulent or convective fluxes. The mean gradients obeyFor positive applied traction on a fluid above a bottom boundary, $J_M=+U_{\ast }^2$ and the mean velocity decreases away from the forcing boundary. The usual atmospheric convention specifies the stress absorbed by the boundary and has the opposite sign of $J_M$; scalar and Richardson-number results are unchanged. At large Reynolds number and Péclet number, outside the molecular wall sublayers, $K_M\gg \nu$ and $K_B\gg \kappa$, so molecular transport can be neglected in these flux-gradient relations. Large bulk numbers do not justify doing this exactly at a smooth solid wall.

Write $G=g^{\prime }$ for the positive reduced gravity of dense fluid. With $z$ upwards, $G_z>0$ places denser fluid above lighter fluid and permits convective turbulence. A displacement over the radius scale $d$ samples a buoyancy difference of order $d{G}_z$; balancing kinetic energy per mass with buoyant work over $d$ givesThe buoyancy-gradient mixing-length closure then gives an eddy diffusivity $K\sim ud=d^2\sqrt{G_z}$. We use the paper's unit-prefactor convention for this dimensional closure and its effective cross-sectional area $d^2$; order-one mixing constants and the cylinder's geometric factor $\pi$ are suppressed in its displayed evolution equation.

The downward reduced-gravity transport magnitude and its convergence are different quantities:The printed expression labelled a flux is actually the second quantity, a flux convergence per unit height. The dimensions distinguish them: $\mathcal{F}$ has units $L^4{T}^{-3}$, whereas $F_{\mathrm{conv}}$ has units $L^3{T}^{-3}$. A constant positive gradient has nonzero transport but zero convergence, providing a direct counterexample to identifying the derivative with the transport itself.

The upward total buoyancy flux is $QG-\mathcal{F}$. Conservation therefore yieldsThis flux convergence in turbulent buoyancy mixing obtains the displayed evolution equation with the correct transport interpretation.

For the arrested cubic buoyancy profile, an undisturbed region below $-H$ has $G=0$ and no turbulent buoyancy flux. The joining condition is $G(-H)=0$ andIn a steady state, integrating the conservation equation from that front gives $QG=d^4(G_z{)}^{3/2}$. For a nonzero mixed region,and henceThe associated gradient is $Q^2(z+H{)}^2/(9d^8)$, so it matches the required zero-gradient state continuously. We take the mixed interval to start immediately above $-H$; adding a further zero interval would merely relocate the arrest front.

The source buoyancy flux is $B_s=Q_s{g}_s^{\prime }$, with $g_s^{\prime }=g\Delta \rho /\rho$ in the Boussinesq approximation. The stated top-source convention means that this entire flux enters the downward turbulent transport there: $\mathcal{F}(0)=B_s$. Since steady transport also satisfies $\mathcal{F}(0)=QG(0)$,This is the extent in the paper's dimensional-closure normalization. It presupposes positive $Q$; with no upflow there is no finite steady arrest depth. For a mixture of the two original fluids, $G(0)\le g_s^{\prime }$ is necessary, so an extrapolation to $Q_s/Q>1$ cannot represent a physical concentration profile under this top-flux boundary model. A dilute-source regime avoids appreciable source-volume corrections.

Assuming the same scalar-mixing coefficient for a passive tracer, its eddy diffusivity in the mixed region isIt vanishes at the arrest front and increases linearly towards the source. A different turbulent scalar diffusivity ratio would multiply this result by its corresponding constant.

The geometric normalization can be restored without changing the reasoning. With actual area $S=\pi d^2$ and $K=C_m{d}^2\sqrt{G_z}$, put $R=S{C}_m{d}^2$. Then $G=Q^2(z+H{)}^3/(27R^2)$, $H=3R^{2/3}{B}_s^{1/3}/Q$, and $K=Q(z+H)/(3S)$. These formulas show which numerical prefactors are convention-dependent.

The Boussinesq approximation requires $\delta =(\rho -{\rho }_0)/{\rho }_0=\varphi ({\rho }_p/{\rho }_0-1)\ll 1$. The reference mass density ${\rho }_0$ can then be used in inertia, while the small density excess is retained in buoyancy. Dilute particle volume fraction $\varphi \ll 1$ alone does not suffice if ${\rho }_p/{\rho }_0$ is exceptionally large. Define $G=g({\rho }_p-{\rho }_0)/{\rho }_0$, so the reduced gravity is $g^{\prime }=G\varphi$.

The shallow water equations require depth small compared with the horizontal evolution scale, weak vertical acceleration and approximately hydrostatic pressure. Here the ambient is deep and quiescent, so its leading contribution is a hydrostatic reference pressure; the excess pressure in the layer is ${\rho }_{0}G\varphi (h-z)$. The model also needs nearly uniform streamwise velocity across the section and the stated absence of secondary circulation. The advancing gravity current nose is a separate region where these assumptions can fail.

A nearly uniform particle volume fraction can be maintained by turbulent mixing with eddy diffusivity $K_z$, provided $h^2/K_z\ll h/w$ and the mixing time is short compared with horizontal advection and bulk evolution. Equivalently, $wh/K_z\ll 1$ keeps the bulk settling-induced gradient small. The particles should respond rapidly enough to follow the mixing motions. A thin boundary layer adjacent to the absorbing bed or walls need not be well mixed.

Uniform bulk concentration does not imply zero sedimentation. The relative downward particle velocity still supplies a particle deposition flux of approximately $w\varphi$ to an absorbing boundary. Mixing redistributes the remaining particles and maintains the bulk concentration profile while its overall level decreases; it need not suspend every particle indefinitely. Deposition requires negligible resuspension in the model.

For a representative hydrogen-rich hot Jupiter, increasing altitude lowers pressure, slows collision-driven chemistry, and increases exposure to stellar UV. Three principal regimes follow.

At high pressures, illustratively $P\gtrsim 1$--$10$ bar, collisions and sufficiently high temperature make thermochemical equilibrium a useful approximation. Molecular abundances minimize the free energy subject to elemental conservation. Condensation and atmospheric condensate rainout can remove selected elements from the gas.

At intermediate pressures, illustratively $10^{-3}\lesssim P\lesssim 1$ bar, vertical mixing and horizontal winds can outrun chemical relaxation time. The chemical quench level is defined by ${\tau }_{\mathrm{chem}}\sim {\tau }_{\mathrm{mix}}$; above it, some abundances retain values from a deeper or hotter region. Horizontal chemical quenching similarly occurs when chemical adjustment is slower than advection between the day and night hemispheres.

At low pressures, illustratively $P\lesssim 10^{-3}$ bar, atmospheric photochemistry becomes important: photodissociation and radical reactions change equilibrium abundances and can produce hydrocarbons and atmospheric hazes. At still lower pressures, roughly $10^{-6}$ bar and above in altitude, photoionization and an escaping thermosphere can become important.

These pressures label a representative sketch, not universal interfaces. UV optical depth, stellar spectrum, gravity, metallicity, reaction rates and eddy diffusivity determine the transitions; quenching is species-dependent.

Assume a hydrogen-rich gas with approximately solar elemental ratios and local thermochemical equilibrium when identifying the limiting compositions. At $T\lesssim 500\mathrm{K}$, a representative set of dominant molecules is ${\mathrm{H}}_2,{\mathrm{H}}_{2}O,{\mathrm{CH}}_4,{\mathrm{NH}}_3$. In the deeper $T\gtrsim 1300\mathrm{K}$ regime, it is ${\mathrm{H}}_2,{\mathrm{H}}_{2}O,\mathrm{CO},{\mathrm{N}}_2$. Helium is an abundant atom, not a molecule. The carbon and nitrogen switches, carbon monoxide–methane quenching and nitrogen–ammonia quenching when frozen by mixing, are represented byLow temperature and high pressure favor the right-hand sides, while hotter gas favors carbon monoxide and ${\mathrm{N}}_2$. Exact boundaries depend on pressure and composition; ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ can become important at high metallicity. If mixing is strong, the cool upper atmosphere need not retain its local-equilibrium four-species ordering.

To preserve the hot-region reactant $A_1$ aloft, require transport to beat its conversion at the quench region. With a mixing length $\ell$ and vertical eddy diffusivity $K_{zz}$,For the simplest use of the supplied atmospheric scale height reference, assume the same temperature and mean molecular weight as the reference atmosphere and take $\ell =H$. Since $H\propto 1/g$, $H\simeq 30/0.4=75\mathrm{km}$, giving $K_{zz}\gtrsim 5.6\times 10^4{\mathrm{m}}^2{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}=5.6\times 10^8\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^2{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$.

The hotter quench layer requires a temperature correction if the reference is ordinary Jupiter; the temperature of that scale-height reference was not specified. An explicit estimate using $T_q=1300\mathrm{K}$, dimensionless mean molecular weight $\mu =2.3$, and $g\simeq 0.4\times 25=10\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-2}$ givesThus a scale-height-based estimate using the hot layer is of order $10^{10}\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^2{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. Both estimates state their assumptions: the reference scaling alone does not include the temperature ratio. Choosing $\ell =0.1H$ lowers the threshold by a factor of $100$, and a full quench calculation needs the reaction timescale along the profile. The dependence of a quench diffusivity on mixing length shows why the stated reaction timescale supplies a mixing constraint, not a unique measured coefficient.

Use a two-sided top-hat line plume with full width $w(z)$, upward speed $U(z)$, and reduced gravity $b(z)$ uniform across the plume. Fluxes are measured per unit span along the line source: the volume flux is $V=wU$, the kinematic momentum flux is $M=w{U}^2$, and the buoyancy flux is $B=wUb$. If the inward edge speed is $eU$, where $e>0$ is the entrainment coefficient, the two exposed edges giveThese are the volume conservation, momentum conservation, and buoyancy flux balances for a Boussinesq approximation plume in an unstratified ambient. Entrained ambient fluid supplies neither vertical momentum nor reference buoyancy.

A pure plume has no persistent source length scale. Since a line-source $B$ has dimensions $L^3{T}^{-3}$, dimensional analysis gives constant $U\propto B^{1/3}$, $w\propto z$, and $V\propto z$. Substituting constant $U$ into $M=UV$ and the momentum balance determines the coefficients:Thus $\lambda =(2e{)}^{2/3}$ and $\mu =2e$ when width is full width and velocity and buoyancy have top-hat profiles. If width means half-width, $\mu =e$ instead. Other prescribed profile shapes change these numerical factors; the linear growth laws remain the same. The point-source $B$ in Question 1 has different dimensions, so its $z^{5/3}$ law must not be used here.

Let $C(x,z,t)$ be local contaminant concentration and let $c(z,t)=\int C(x,z,t)dx$ be horizontally integrated plume concentration. Its conserved amount per unit span is ${\int }_0^{\infty }cdz=V_c$. The dilute contaminant is a passive scalar; the maintained plume is unaffected by its impulsive release. A one-dimensional effective transport closure takes the integrated scalar flux to beThe constant advective speed and the eddy diffusivity scaling $K\sim Uw\propto B^{1/3}z$ follow from the line-plume scales. The entrainment coefficient alone does not determine the scalar dispersion coefficient: this Fickian closure for the integrated variable is an additional modelling assumption. Mass conservation $c_t+J_z=0$ then gives the displayed transport equation in the PDF. With this effective closure and advective speed chosen as $U$, $\alpha =(2e{)}^{-1/3}$; if $K=\kappa Uw$, then $\beta =\kappa (2e{)}^{2/3}$, with independent dimensionless mixing coefficient $\kappa$.

There is a second possible closure convention. If one instead applies local diffusive flux to horizontally averaged plume concentration $\overline{C}=c/w$, its integrated diffusive flux is $-Kw{\overline{C}}_z=-K(c_z-c/z)$. For $K=Dz$, the total scalar flux is then $(U+D)c-Dz{c}_z$. The same printed equation is obtained with $a=U+D$, rather than $a=U$. Thus the printed $\alpha$ and $\beta$ should be regarded as effective coefficients unless the averaging and closure conventions are specified; no equality between $\alpha$ and the velocity prefactor is universal.

Assume $a,D>0$, $z>0$, an initial impulse $V_c{\delta }_0$ at the origin, no further contaminant input, and zero endpoint scalar flux for $t>0$. For a similarity solution, putSubstituting into the advection-diffusion equation givesDecay at infinity makes the integrated constant zero. Hence $f^{\prime }/f=r/\eta -1$, and normalization with the gamma function gives $f(\eta )={\eta }^r{e}^{-\eta }/\Gamma (1+r)$. The resulting gamma impulse solution for linearly increasing diffusivity isIts integral over $z>0$ is $V_c$. Its flux is $J=(z/t)c$, which vanishes at both endpoints for $t>0$. The scale $Dt$ shrinks to zero as $t\downarrow 0$, so the normalized solution has weak convergence of probability measures to the required unit source impulse. The mass at the boundary is a full unit impulse on the half-line, not half of a whole-line impulse.

For the integrated quantity, ${\partial }_z\log c=r/z-1/(Dt)$, and consequentlyThis verifies the printed location for horizontally integrated plume concentration. It is a maximum because the derivative changes from positive to negative there. The normalized profile is a gamma distribution with shape $1+r$: its expected value is $(a+D)t$ and its variance is $(a+D)Dt$, so neither the mean position nor the spread should be mistaken for the modal position.

The PDF changes from “integral” to “averaged” concentration in its final request. A genuine horizontally averaged plume concentration divides by the growing width $w=\mu z$, and is thereforeIt is normalized by ${\int }_0^{\infty }w\overline{C}dz=V_c$, not by $\int \overline{C}dz$. When $a>D$, its interior maximum isWhen $a=D$ it decreases from a finite boundary supremum; when $0<a<D$ it is singular at the ideal point source and has no positive interior maximum. A finite source regularizes that singularity. Thus the final printed maximum is correct for the integrated variable $c$, or for an “average” using a fixed reference width, but is not generally the maximum of the local mean $c/w(z)$. Both quantities have been given rather than silently identifying them. If $D=0$, the smooth similarity formula is replaced by the advected impulse $V_c\delta (z-at)$; positive eddy diffusivity is essential to the gamma profile.