(full size: 219k)

A perspective volume rendering of the vorticity structures in a convectively unstable stratified layer is shown here. This simulation has been carried out using the PPM gas dynamics code on a grid of 512x512x256 cells. The problem was run on a 256-node Cray T3D partition at the Pittsburgh Super-computer Center. This calculation began with a convection flow computed on a coarser grid until a statistically steady flow was achieved. The fine grid of the simulation shown here allows both the large-scale convective motions and the small-scale turbulent motions as well as the interactions between the two to be treated in a single calculation.