Storms and the Depletion of Ammonia in Jupiter: II. Explaining the Juno Observations
Tristan Guillot, Cheng Li, Scott Bolton, Shannon Brown, Andrew Ingersoll, Michael Janssen, Steven Levin, Jonathan Lunine, Glenn Orton, Paul Steffes, David Stevenson
发表信息：
Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets, Wiley-Blackwell, 2020, 125 (8)
Observations of Jupiter's deep atmosphere by the Juno spacecraft have revealed several puzzling facts: The concentration of ammonia is variable down to pressures of tens of bars, and is strongly dependent on latitude. While most latitudes exhibit a low abundance, the Equatorial Zone of Jupiter has an abundance of ammonia that is high and nearly uniform with depth. In parallel, the Equatorial Zone is peculiar for its absence of lightning, which is otherwise prevalent most everywhere else on the planet. We show that a model accounting for the presence of small-scale convection and water storms originating in Jupiter's deep atmosphere accounts for the observations. Where strong thunderstorms are observed on the planet, we estimate that the formation of ammonia-rich hail ('mushballs') and subsequent downdrafts can deplete efficiency the upper atmosphere of its ammonia and transport it efficiently to the deeper levels. In the Equatorial Zone, the absence of thunderstorms shows that this process is not occurring, implying that small-scale convection can maintain a near-homogeneity of this region. A simple model satisfying mass and energy balance accounts for the main features of Juno's MWR observations and successfully reproduces the inverse correlation seen between ammonia abundance and the lightning rate as function of latitude. We predict that in regions where ammonia is depleted, water should also be depleted to great depths. The fact that condensates are not well mixed by convection until far deeper than their condensation level has consequences for our understanding of Jupiter's deep interior and of giant-planet atmospheres in general.
Our analysis of Cassini/VIMS near-infrared spectra of Saturn's Great Storm of 2010-2011 reveals a multi-component aerosol composition comprised primarily of ammonia ice, with a significant component of water ice. The most likely third component is ammonium hydrosulfide or some weakly absorbing material similar to what dominates visible clouds outside the storm region. Horizontally heterogeneous models favor ammonium hydrosulfide as the third component, while horizontally uniform models favor the weak absorber. Both models rely on water ice absorption to compensate for residual spectral gradien…
Cloud and ammonia vertical profiles in the equatorial atmosphere of Jupiter determined from visible to near-IR observations made by VLT/MUSE, Cassini/VIMS, IRTF/SpeX and Juno/JIRAM
University of Oxford（牛津大学）；Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU（巴斯克大学）；Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica（意大利国家天体物理研究所）
Juno Microwave Radiometer (MWR) observations of Jupiter's mid-latitudes reveal a strong correlation between brightness temperature contrasts and zonal winds, confirming that the banded structure extends throughout the troposphere. However, the microwave brightness gradient is observed to change sign with depth: the belts are microwave-bright in the $p<5$ bar range and microwave-dark in the $p>10$ bar range. The transition level (which we call the jovicline) is evident in the MWR 11.5 cm channel, which samples the 5-14 bar range when using the limb-darkening at all emission angles. The transiti…
Structure of Jupiter's High-Latitude Storms: Folded Filamentary Regions Revealed by Juno
University of Leicester（莱斯特大学）；California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）；Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院喷气推进实验室）；British Astronomical Association（英国天文学会）；Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica（国家天体物理研究所空间天体物理学和行星科学研究所）；Michigan Technical University（密歇根理工大学）；Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校空间科学实验室）；University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；Universitié Côte d’Azur（蔚蓝海岸大学）
Juno Microwave Radiometer Observations Reveal A Warmer Polar Atmosphere on Jupiter
University of Michigan（密歇根大学）；University of Leicester（莱斯特大学）；Weizmann Institute of Science（魏茨曼科学研究所）；Université Côte d’Azur（蔚蓝海岸大学）；University of Houston（休斯顿大学）；Aeolis Research（埃俄利斯研究公司）；INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali（意大利国家天体物理研究所空间天体物理学与行星科学研究所）；Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院喷气推进实验室）
We present multi-wavelength measurements of the thermal, chemical, and cloud contrasts associated with the visibly dark formations (also known as 5-$μ$m hot spots) and intervening bright plumes on the boundary between Jupiter's Equatorial Zone (EZ) and North Equatorial Belt (NEB). Observations made by the TEXES 5-20 $μ$m spectrometer at the Gemini North Telescope in March 2017 reveal the upper-tropospheric properties of 12 hot spots, which are directly compared to measurements by Juno using the Microwave Radiometer (MWR), JIRAM at 5 $μ$m, and JunoCam visible images. MWR and thermal-infrared sp…
Moist convective storms in Jupiter develop frequently and can trigger atmospheric activity of different scales, from localized storms to planetary-scale disturbances including convective activity confined inside a larger meteorological system. In February 2018 a series of convective storms erupted in Jupiter's South Temperate Belt (STB) (planetocentric latitudes from -23$^{\circ}$ to -29.5$^{\circ}$). This occurred inside an elongated cyclonic region known popularly as the STB Ghost, close to the large anticyclone Oval BA, resulting in the clouds from the storms being confined to the cyclone. …
An analysis of currently available ammonia (NH$_3$) visible-to-near-infrared gas absorption data was recently undertaken by Irwin et al. (Icarus, 302 (2018) 426) to help interpret Very Large Telescope (VLT) MUSE observations of Jupiter from 0.48 - 0.93 $μ$m, made in support of the NASA/Juno mission. Since this analysis a newly revised set of ammonia line data, covering the previously poorly constrained range 0.5 - 0.833 $μ$m, has been released by the ExoMol project, "C2018" (Coles et al., JQSRT 219, 199 - 122, 2018), which demonstrates significant advantages over previously available data sets…
Recent (2011) results from the Nice Observatory indicate the existence of global seismic modes on Jupiter in the frequency range between 0.7 and 1.5mHz with amplitudes of tens of cm/s. Currently, the driving force behind these modes is a mystery; the measured amplitudes are many orders of magnitude larger than anticipated based on theory analogous to heliosiesmology (that is, turbulent convection as a source of stochastic excitation). One of the most promising hypotheses is that these modes are driven by Jovian storms. This work constructs a framework to analytically model the expected equilib…
The Ice Giants Uranus and Neptune have hydrogen-based atmospheres with several constituents that condense in their cold upper atmospheres. A small number of bright cloud systems observed in both planets are good candidates for moist convective storms, but their observed properties (size, temporal scales and cycles of activity) differ from moist convective storms in the Gas Giants. These clouds and storms are possibly due to methane condensation and observations also suggest deeper clouds of hydrogen sulfide (H$_2$S) at depths of a few bars. Even deeper, thermochemical models predict clouds of …
Recent Juno observations have greatly extended the temporal and spatial coverage of lightning detection on Jupiter. We use these data to constrain a model of moist convection and lightning generation in Jupiter's atmosphere, and derive a roughly solar abundance of water at the base of the water cloud. Shallow lightning, observed by Juno (Becker et al., 2020, Nature, 584, 55-58) and defined as flashes originating at altitudes corresponding to pressure less than 2 bars, is reproduced, as is lightning at a deeper range of pressures, including those below the water cloud base. It is found that the…
Jupiter's atmosphere is dominated by multiple jet streams which are strongly tied to its 3D atmospheric circulation. Lacking a rigid bottom boundary, several models exist for how the meridional circulation extends into the planetary interior. Here we show, collecting evidence from multiple instruments of the Juno mission, the existence of mid-latitudinal meridional circulation cells which are driven by turbulence, similar to the Ferrel cells on Earth. Different than Earth, which contains only one such cell in each hemisphere, the larger, faster rotating Jupiter can incorporate multiple cells. …
Jupiter's atmosphere features a variety of clouds that are formed from the interplay of chemistry and atmospheric dynamics, from the deep red color of the Great Red Spot to the high altitude white ammonia clouds present in the zones (bright bands in Jupiter's atmosphere). Beneath these upper level clouds, water condensation occurs, and sporadically leads to the formation of towering convective storms, driven by the release of large amounts of latent heat. These storms result in a widespread disruption of the cloud and dynamical structure of the atmosphere at the latitude where they form, makin…
The observation of gaseous giant planets is of high scientific interest. Although they have been the targets of several spacecraft missions, there still remains a need for continuous ground-based observations. As their atmospheres present fast dynamic environments on various time scales, the availability of time at professional telescopes is neither uniform nor of sufficient duration to assess temporal changes. However, numerous amateurs with small telescopes (of 15-40 cm) and modern hardware and software equipment can monitor these changes daily (within the 360-900nm range). Amateurs are able…
The polar regions of Jupiter host a myriad of dynamically interesting phenomena including vortex configurations, folded-filamentary regions (FFRs), and chaotic flows. Juno observations have provided unprecedented views of the high latitudes, allowing for more constraints to be placed upon the troposphere and the overall atmospheric energy cycle. Moist convective events are believed to be the primary drivers of energetic storm behavior as observed on the planet. Here, we introduce a novel single layer shallow water model to investigate the effects of polar moist convective events at high resolu…
We observed Jupiter at wavelengths near 2 cm with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in February 2015. These frequencies are mostly sensitive to variations in ammonia abundance and probe between ~0.5-2.0 bars of pressure in Jupiter's atmosphere; within and below the visible cloud deck which has its base near 0.7 bars. The resultant observed data were projected into a cylindrical map of the planet with spatial resolution of ~1500 km at the equator. We have examined the data for atmospheric waves and observed a prominent bright belt of radio hotspot features near 10N, likely connected to the sa…
