  Laboratory studies reveal a deformational instability that leads to a drained
region (dry spot) in an initially flat liquid layer (with a free upper surface)
heated uniformly from below. This long-wavelength instability supplants
hexagonal convection cells as the primary instability in viscous liquid layers
that are sufficiently thin or are in microgravity. The instability occurs at a
temperature gradient 34% smaller than predicted by linear stability theory.
Numerical simulations show a drained region qualitatively similar to that seen
in the experiment.
