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We present measurements of the orientation ₀ (t) of the large-scale circulation (LSC) of turbulent Rayleigh-B\'enard convection in cylindrical cells of aspect ratio 1. ₀ (t) undergoes irregular reorientations. It contains reorientation events by rotation through angles with a monotonically decreasing probability distribution p (), and by cessations (where the LSC stops temporarily) with a uniform p (). Reorientations have Poissonian statistics in time. The amplitude of the LSC and the magnitude of the azimuthal rotation rate have a negative correlation.
Brown et al. (2005) studied this question.