The Exploration of Jupiter's Arctic Polar Vortex by NASA IRTF and Cassini CIRS Observations

Details The Exploration of Jupiter's Arctic Polar Vortex by NASA IRTF and Cassini CIRS Observations The Exploration of Jupiter's Arctic Polar Vortex by NASA IRTF and Cassini CIRS Observations

Apr 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003eaeja.....6819o&link_type=abstract

EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6 - 11 April 2003, abstract #6819

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The presence of an arctic polar vortex in Jupiter was confirmed by Orton et al. (2002, Bull. Amer. Astron. Soc. 34, 855--856) who detected a strong temperature gradient near 65 degrees N latitude with the polar temperature several degrees colder than those at lower latitudes. Their measurements were made in mid-1999 when Jupiter's pole was at an optimum position for observing. The continued presence of the vortex was confirmed by NASA IRTF mid-infrared images taken on 30--31 December 2000, which were coincident with spectra taken by the Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) which provided a means to determine details of the temperature profile variation, as well as assess the entrainment of gases by the vortex. The thermal and haze boundary was semi-hexagonal in polar projection, qualitatively similar to its 1999 appearance, with the maximum temperature gradient in the stratosphere and the troposphere nearly coincident. Tropospheric (˜200-mbar) and mid-stratospheric (˜30 mbar)temperature differences across the vortex boundary are both on the order of 5--7 K. On the other hand, in the upper stratosphere (˜1 mbar), the relationship is inverted, and the polar vortex is actually warmer by 10 K. The relatively low opacity of clouds at 5 microns suggests a prevailing downwelling of dry air in the vortex region, although a preliminary assessment of the para-H_2 mixing ratio yields a low value that is more consistent with upwelling. The abundance of NH_3 gas near 300 mbar (above the condensation region) appears to vary little between the vortex and its exterior. Because temperatures are warmer inside the vortex above the ˜2-mbar level, determining the distribution of stratospheric hydrocarbons across the boundary depends critically on their altitude distribution. This work was supported by NASA.

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