Formation of zonal jets by moist convection on gas-giant planets

Details Formation of zonal jets by moist convection on gas-giant planets Formation of zonal jets by moist convection on gas-giant planets

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p11a1256l&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P11A-1256

Physics

0343 Planetary Atmospheres (5210, 5405, 5704), 5210 Planetary Atmospheres, Clouds, And Hazes (0343), 5405 Atmospheres (0343, 1060), 5704 Atmospheres (0343, 1060)

Scientific paper

All four gas-giant planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune exhibit multiple banded zonal jets. Jupiter and Saturn also show equatorial superrotation while Uranus and Neptune show equatorial subrotation. The formation mechanisms of these zonal jets are largely unknown. Moist convection, which generates small-scale turbulence, has been proposed as a energy source to drive the zonal jets. However, this hypothesis has not been adequately tested. Moreover, current numerical models generally produce the same equatorial jet direction for all four giant planets. These models therefore fail to provide a single mechanism that can simultaneously explain the equatorial jet on both the gas giants (Jupiter/Saturn) and ice giants (Uranus/Neptune). Here, we present 3D global numerical simulations using the MITgcm that include water vapor. Condensation, and the associated latent heating, occurs whenever the relative humidity exceeds 100%. The locations of heating in our model evolve with (and are determined by) the flow; unlike many previous studies, our forcing scheme does not impose any zonal symmetry on the system. In our simulations, the moist convection and its associated latent heating generates numerous eddies that drive multiple zonal jets. The dynamics in our simulations are self-maintained and, for plausible water abundances, produce roughly 20 jets with equatorial superrotation on Jupiter and Saturn and 3 jets with equatorial subrotation on Uranus and Neptune. The jet widths are controlled by the Rhines scale. These simulated jets resemble the observed jet patterns on the giant planets. Our simulations thus suggest that moist convection plays an important role in pumping jets on giant planets, and moreover provides a possible coherent explanation for superrotation on Jupiter/Saturn and subrotation on Uranus/Neptune. The moist-convection events in our simulations also bear an encouraging resemblance to observed moist-convection events on Jupiter and Saturn.

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