Main Focus
My research focusses on the interior dynamics of planets. This dynamics controls the evolution of a planet and produces its magnetic field in a dynamo process. This field can be measured, for example by an orbiting space craft, and provides important information about the interior that is not accessible by other means. My main research tool is the numerical MHD code MagIC, which is openly available on GitHub. I am also more generally interested in classical and numerical fluid dynamics.
Curriculum Vitae
Education and Employment:
Since 2014: Group Head "Planetary Interior", MPS Goettingen
2005 – 2014: Permanent staff member, MPS Göttingen
1998 – 2005: Research Fellow, MPS Katlenburg-Lindau and University of Göttingen
1995 – 1998: Postdoc Fellow, University of Bayreuth, IGP Paris and University of Exeter
1995: Phd University of Bayreuth
Awards:
2004: Billing Award for scientific computing, Max Planck Society
Selected Publications:
(1) Gastine, T. and Wicht, J. (2021), Stable stratification promotes multiple zonal jets in a turbulent Jovian dynamo model, Icarus, 368, eid=114514, doi=10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114514
(2) Sanchez, S., Wicht, J. and Baerenzung, J. (2020), Predictions of the geomagnetic secular variation based on the ensemble sequential assimilation of geomagnetic field models by dynamo simulations, Earth, Planets, and Space, 72, 157, doi = 10.1186/s40623-020-01279-y
(3) Wicht, J. and Gastine, T. (2020), Numerical simulations help revealing the dynamics underneath the clouds of Jupiter, Nature Communications, 11, 2886
(4) Wicht, J., Gastine, T., Duarte, L. and Dietrich, W (2019), Dynamo action of the zonal winds in Jupiter, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 629, A125
(5) Wicht, J. and Sanchez, S. (2019), Advances in geodynamo modelling, Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dyn., 113, 2-50, doi: 10.1080/03091929.2019.1597074
(6) Wicht, J., French, M., Stellmach, S., Nettelmann, N., Gastine, T., Duarte, L., and Redmer, R. (2018), Modeling the Interior Dynamics of Gas Planets, in Magnetic Fields in the Solar System, eds. Luehr, H., Wicht, J., Gilder, S.A., and Holschneider, M., series Astrophysics and Space Science Library, 448, pp. 7-81
(7) Meduri, D.G. and Wicht, J. (2016), A simple stochastic model for dipole moment fluctuations in numerical dynamo simulations, Frontiers in Earth Sci., 38, doi:10.3389/feart.2016.00038
(8) Wicht, J. and D.G. Meduri, D.G. (2016), A Gaussian model for simulated geomagnetic field reversals, Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 259, 45-60, doi:10.1016/j.pepi.2016.07.007
(9) Heimpel, M., Gastine, T. and Wicht, J. (2016), Simulation of deep-seated zonal jets and shallow vortices in gas giant atmospheres, Nature Geoscience, 9, 19-23
(10) Heyner, D., Wicht, J., Goemez-Perez, N., Schmitt, D., Auster, H.-U. and Glassmeier, K.H. (2011), Evidence from numerical experiments for a feedback dynamo generating Mercury’s magnetic field, Science, 334, 1690-1693.