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

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008dps....40.4106l&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #41.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 40, p.470

Physics

Scientific paper

All four giant planets exhibit multiple banded zonal jets. Jupiter/Saturn also show equatorial superrotation while Uranus/Neptune show equatorial subrotation. The formation mechanisms of these zonal jets remain obscure. Most models assume that the jets result from an inverse energy cascade that acts on small-scale turbulence, and moist convection has been repeatedly suggested as a possible source of this turbulence. 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 and ice giants. Here, we present 3D numerical simulations that include the advection of water vapor. Condensation, and the associated latent heating, occurs whenever the relative humidity exceeds 100%. This scheme allows the locations of heating to evolve with (and be determined by) the flow; unlike many previous studies, our forcing scheme does not impose any zonal symmetry on the system. At present time, we ignore the cloud microphysics and simply assume that all condensate is rained out. 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 eventually produce roughly 20 jets with equatorial superrotation on Jupiter and 3 jets with equatorial subrotation on Neptune, with latitudinal widths 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 interesting resemblance to observed moist-convection events on Jupiter and Saturn.

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