A Whiff of Cloud on Jupiter

Details A Whiff of Cloud on Jupiter A Whiff of Cloud on Jupiter

Jun 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.2203e&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #22.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1141

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

We present 1-d models of tenuous water clouds in the Jovian atmosphere. We concentrate our efforts on the hot spot region where the Galileo probe descended. First probe results show that in this region the water abundance is reduced by a factor of 5--10 relative to solar and no significant water cloud has been detected. It has been suggested that this area is dominated by downdrafts which certainly would reduce water cloud formation and could even inhibit it. We will show that even with downdrafts and reduced water abundances, a small tenuous cloud can form in the 3-bar region. Cloud densities are 2 to 3 orders of magnitude lower than found in prior condensation models. Our model does not simulate cumulus convection but instead emphasizes large scale motions. The physical processes in the cloud model include nucleation, growth/evaporation, coagulation and sedimentation. Jupiter's interior heat source supplies the energy for convection which is described by eddy diffusion. The cloud-free region in our model is a purely dry convective regime with an eddy diffusion coefficient of 2e8 cm(2) /sec derived from the convective heat flux of 3000 erg/cm(2) /sec. In the cloud itself the heat is supplied by latent heat release through condensation and the eddy diffusion coefficient is about 2 to 3 orders of magnitude lower. The sum of these two energies does not exceed the total convective flux which was taken to be a constant.

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