The Morphogenesis of Bands and Zonal Winds in the Atmospheres of the Giant Outer Planets

Details The Morphogenesis of Bands and Zonal Winds in the Atmospheres of the Giant Outer Planets The Morphogenesis of Bands and Zonal Winds in the Atmospheres of the Giant Outer Planets

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.2211c&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #22.11; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1143

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Despite vast differences in chemical composition, thermodynamic properties, physical size, rotation rate and orientation, the atmospheres of the four giant outer planets exhibit a remarkable similarity in their banded appearance and the associated strong zonal (east-west) winds. This unexpected similarity is at present a major unsolved question in planetary science [Ingersoll, Science (1990); Gierasch & Conrath, J. Geophys. Res. (1993)]. In this study we address this question with a unifying dynamical framework: the shallow-water model in spherical geometry. Our objective here is to determine how many of the gross, observed features of the atmospheres of the giant planets can be explained by assuming the simplest physical model for these atmospheres. Accordingly, we idealize the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune as shallow layers of turbulent fluid overlying smooth, spherical interiors. Although extremely idealized, this model at high resolution and with full spherical geometry exhibits spontaneous latitudinal banding and jets. Inputting only the observed, standard values of radius, rotation rate, average velocity, and mean layer thickness as model parameters, the shallow-water model produces, from random turbulent initial conditions, the number, width and amplitude of jets for each of the planets in good, qualitative agreement with observations. In addition, the model predicts the preponderance of anticyclonic vortices over cyclonic vortices on all four outer planets. These results strongly suggest that, however different the atmospheres of the outer planets may be, the key to their common banded appearance and zonal jet structure may lie in the intrinsic shallow-water dynamics they all share.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Morphogenesis of Bands and Zonal Winds in the Atmospheres of the Giant Outer Planets does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Morphogenesis of Bands and Zonal Winds in the Atmospheres of the Giant Outer Planets, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Morphogenesis of Bands and Zonal Winds in the Atmospheres of the Giant Outer Planets will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1462229