Buoyancydriven
Buoyancydriven describes physical processes in which buoyant forces, arising from density differences within a gravitational field, generate fluid motion. It is most commonly seen as buoyancy-driven convection, driven by thermal or compositional density contrasts, but can occur in any situation where density variations interact with gravity.
In buoyancy-driven convection, a fluid layer heated from below or cooled from above becomes unstable: warmer,
Fields and applications include atmospheric convection and weather patterns; oceanography and thermohaline circulation; industrial and building
Quantitative analysis uses the Navier–Stokes equations with buoyancy terms, along with energy or species transport equations.
See also: natural convection; convection; Rayleigh number; Boussinesq approximation; thermohaline circulation.