Nonstationary Convection in a Rotating System

Since Kuppersand Lortz (1969) have demonstrated that all small amplitude stationary solutions for convection in a layer heated from below and rotating about a vertical axis are unstable, the problem of the realized form of convection has remained unsolved. By considering simple examples, it is demonstrated that a time-dependent form of convection is likely to be physically realized which not only depends on the initial conditions, but on the continuous presence of experimental noise as well. In this respect, the problem exhibits a characteristic property of turbulent fluid system.