Some proposals for Marangoni experiments with a pre-prepared temperature gradient

A serious disadvantage of a lot of microgravity experiments on Marangoni convection is often times the fact that most of the valuable time under microgravity is lost for preparing the necessary temperature gradient. Therefore, the paper will discuss two possibilities of short-term marangoni experiments where the temperature gradient over a plane fluid layer can be prepared in advance, but keeps the fluid motionless.
At first, a convective motion will be started simply by switching off gravity which can result in long-wave surface capillary waves. Such a motion due to surface deformations is suppressed under earth conditions.
Second, various types of Marangoni motions will be discussed for liquid metals exposed to an external magnetic field. Instability thresholds are increased by the magnetic field, i.e. the liquid can be kept motionless by means of the magnetic field under a given temperature gradient.
The paper will discuss the feasibility of such investigations in drop tower experiments.