Galileo probe interpretation indicating a neutrally stable layer in the Jovian troposphere

The sole in situ measurement of a giant planet atmosphere comes from the Galileo probe, which plunged through Jupiter's weather layer at 6.5°N and measured a remarkably stable atmospheric temperature profile. Horizontal winds were observed to substantially increase from 1 to 3 bars, in a region of relatively low static stability. We show that this high-shear region indicates the best possibility of zero potential vorticity and resulting slantwise convection and suggest that the fluid here could potentially be adiabatic. We generalize an expression to determine lapse rates along constant angular momentum surfaces for deep atmospheres at any latitude.