Condensible Volatiles, Clouds, and Implications for Meteorology in the Galileo Probe Entry Region: Jupiter Is Not Dry!

Details Condensible Volatiles, Clouds, and Implications for Meteorology in the Galileo Probe Entry Region: Jupiter Is Not Dry! Condensible Volatiles, Clouds, and Implications for Meteorology in the Galileo Probe Entry Region: Jupiter Is Not Dry!

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.2101a&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #21.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1133

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

In the Galileo Probe entry region, the condensible volatiles, H2O, H2S and NH3, are all found to be severely depleted to great depths below their respective condensation levels. As measured by the Probe mass spectrometer, H2S is less than 1/30 solar at p<4 bars, whereas the base of its equilibrium condensation level (as NH4SH) is at ~ 2.2 bar for solar S/H. H2S becomes solar only at 10 bars, and it continues to increase to 2x solar at ~ 17 bars. Similarly, H2O is greatly subsaturated at p<4 bars, whereas its condensation level is at 5 bars, it is only 0.2 solar at 10 bars, and, according to present analysis, it increases to 1.5-2x solar at 20 bars. The best fit to the Probe net flux radiometer data requires NH3 to be depleted below its condensation level of 0.6 bar, increasing from ~ 1/100 solar at 0.5 bar to 1/20 solar at 1 bar, and to 1-2x solar in the 3-6 bar region. These depleted volatile levels will produce very tenuous clouds of NH3-ice at 0.5 bar and NH4SH-ice at 1.4 bar, consistent with the clouds detected by the Probe nephelometer and implied by the net flux radiometer. Chemistry or condensation are not responsible for the above volatile depletion in the Probe region. We suggest instead that local meteorology in the form of adjacent cells of rising and descending air is responsible. Updrafts wring out the condensible volatiles through condensation and precipitation as the air ascends to cooler temperatures. When this cold, dried-out air descends, we expect a clear, almost cloud-free region, in accord with Earth-based observations of 5-mu m hot spots. We know the Probe entered one of these hot spots, hence the nearly cloud-free trajectory and the low abundances of the condensible volatiles. Abundances of these volatiles eventually build up to their expected solar/supersolar values as the descending air blends with the great reservoir of well-mixed atmosphere at lower levels. Jupiter's internal heat must keep the lower atmosphere well-mixed, but it may well escape from the planet's interior in a highly nonuniform way, perhaps reminiscent of hot mantle plumes on Earth.

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