Pattern formation in solutal convection: vermiculated rolls and isolated cells

Observations of the peculiar behaviour of a drink of liqueur topped with cream led us to perform experiments showing that the instability is a convection phenomenon that arises through destabilizing surface-tension forces. The convection is solutal: driven by gradients of concentration of a solute, rather than by heat gradients as in the more commonly studied thermal convection. The convective patterns, vermiculated rolls and isolated cells, are quite unlike the usual planforms. They are associated with an elastic surface film, and the Marangoni number is high, characteristic of solutal convection. We have conducted further experiments that reproduce these patterns in simpler working fluids.