posted on 2017-07-31, 15:59authored byL. N. Fletcher, G. S. Orton, J. A. Sinclair, P. Donnelly, H. Melin, J. H. Rogers, T. K. Greathouse, Y. Kasaba, T. Fujiyoshi, T. M. Sato, J. Fernandes, P. G. J. Irwin, R. S. Giles, A. A. Simon, M. H. Wong, M. Vedovato
The dark colors of Jupiter's North Equatorial Belt (NEB, 7 − 17∘N) appeared to expand northward into the neighboring zone in 2015, consistent with a 3-5 year cycle. Inversions of thermal-IR imaging from the Very Large Telescope revealed a moderate warming and reduction of aerosol opacity at the cloud tops at 17 − 20∘N, suggesting subsidence and drying in the expanded sector. Two new thermal waves were identified during this period: (i) an upper tropospheric thermal wave (wavenumber 16-17, amplitude 2.5 K at 170 mbar) in the mid-NEB that was anti-correlated with haze reflectivity; and (ii) a stratospheric wave (wavenumber 13-14, amplitude 7.3 K at 5 mbar) at 20 − 30∘N. Both were quasi-stationary, confined to regions of eastward zonal flow, and are morphologically similar to waves observed during previous expansion events.
History
Citation
Geophysical Research Letters, 2017, 44
Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and Astronomy