Transition on local temperature fluctuations in highly turbulent convection

In 1997, a new turbulent regime has been observed in a Rayleigh-Bénard cell and has been interpreted as the "Ultimate Regime" of convection. This observation was based on global heat transfer measurements at very high Rayleigh numbers ( Ra ). Using a set-up similar to the one used in 1997, we examine the signature of this regime from within the flow itself. A systematic study of probe-size corrections shows that the earlier local temperature measurements within the flow were altered by an excessive size of thermometer, but not according to a theoretical model proposed in the literature. Using a probe one order of magnitude smaller than the one used previously, we find evidence that the transition to the very-high- Ra regime is indeed accompanied with a clear change in the statistics of temperature fluctuations in the flow.