We study numerically the melting of a horizontal layer of a pure solid above a convecting
layer of its fluid rotating about the vertical axis. In the rotating regime studied here, with
Rayleigh numbers of order, convection takes the form of columnar vortices, the number and
size of which depend upon the Ekman and Prandtl numbers, as well as the geometry–
periodic or confined. As the Ekman and Rayleigh numbers vary, the number and average
area of vortices vary in inverse proportion, becoming thinner and more numerous with …

We study the melting of a horizontal layer of a pure solid above a convecting layer of its fluid
rotating about the vertical axis using numerical methods. In the rapidly rotating regime, and
for the Rayleigh numbers of order 10 7 considered here, convection takes the form of
columnar vortices. Since these vortices transport heat from the bottom surface to the upper
boundary, the melt pattern reflects the number and size of the columnar vortices, which in
turn depend on the Prandtl, Reynolds, Rossby and Stefan numbers of the system, and on …