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Thermal image velocimetry for rapidly rotating fluid dynamics

Rémy Monville1,*, Céline Guervilly2, Hao Cao1, and Jonathan M. Aurnou1

  • *Contact author: remy.monville@epss.ucla.edu; monvilre.gitlab.io
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APS Open Sci. 1, 000082 – Published 3 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1jkc-jrq8

Abstract

Accurate measurement of fluid velocity remains a significant challenge in experimental fluid dynamics, as it requires capturing detailed spatial and temporal information within flows that are frequently turbulent. Obtaining velocity fields requires tracking identifiable features within the flow, such as particles, tracer elements, or coherent flow structures, over time. This typically requires accurate optical visualization of the flow. The most prevalent and effective method for measuring fluid velocity in the laboratory is particle image velocimetry (PIV), which uses the tracking of suspended reflective or fluorescent particles to determine the fluid's velocity. The mathematical method commonly used to track particles is the cross-correlation between two images. PIV relies on a laser sheet to illuminate the particles in a plane and requires the fluid to be transparent to visible light. To overcome these optical constraints, we propose to use the surface temperature field, which is accurately measurable in the context of thermal convection experiments. This provides structures that can be tracked if the temperature field is mainly advected by the flow. We employ the Farneback dense optical flow algorithm [Farnebäck, Two-frame motion estimation based on polynomial expansion, in Image Analysis, edited by J. Bigun and T. Gustavsson (Springer, Berlin, 2003), pp. 363–370] to track the features of the temperature field. Similar methods have proven effective in tracking planetary flows, as demonstrated by measuring Jupiter's surface or Earth's ocean currents. We present here a benchmark study using a simple, synthetic two-dimensional advection-diffusion simulation, as well as a rapidly rotating quasigeostrophic simulation based on the “Coreaboloid” experimental setup [Lonner, Aggarwal, and Aurnou, Planetary core-style rotating convective flows in paraboloidal laboratory experiments, J. Geophys. Res.: Planets 127, e2022JE007356 (2022)]. We investigate the applicability of thermal image velocimetry to measuring the velocity field in rotating convection experiments. The reconstructed velocity field allows for a quantitative physical analysis of the flow dynamics.

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APS Open Sci. 1, 000082– Published 3 August, 2026
Vol. 1
  • Received 1 April 2026
  • Accepted 18 June 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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