Modeling and Data Assimilation of the Velocity Fields of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, New Red Oval, and Zonal Jet Streams

Details Modeling and Data Assimilation of the Velocity Fields of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, New Red Oval, and Zonal Jet Streams Modeling and Data Assimilation of the Velocity Fields of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, New Red Oval, and Zonal Jet Streams

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.1103s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #11.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.495

Physics

Scientific paper

We used data assimilation methods and modeling with newly obtained velocity fields of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS), Red Oval (RO), and zonal jet streams to determine their properties and to determine the consistency of these features with standard atmospheric approximations, such as the shallow water assumption and quasi-geostrophy. Velocities derived from cloud displacements are far more useful in describing coherent features than the cloud images themselves, but the velocities reveal little about the underlying physics. However, when the velocities are combined with models, we can extract information such as the Rossby deformation radius (a measure of the vertical stratification of the atmosphere and therefore its temperature), the distribution of potential vorticity, and the relationships between cloud morphologies and the underlying turbulent flow, potential vorticity and streamline topologies. One technique that we use projects the input velocity onto the set of steady solutions to the shallow-water equations, which are parameterized by several unknowns, including the deformation radius and the forcing from deeper layers. Using a genetic algorithm, the values of the unknown parameters and their uncertainties are determined such that the steady solution is a good fit to the input velocity. Typically, there are finite ranges of values for each parameter that give steady solutions that reproduce the input velocity fields to within their uncertainties. However, in general, only a subset of these parameter values give solutions that are stable (as determined by initial-value simulations), so that the range of acceptable parameter values is reduced. We report our results of modeling the jet streams, GRS and RO. We show how the models can be used to deduce the physics that makes the GRS "hollow", i.e., have a quiescent center surrounded by a high speed ring of azimuthal flow.
This work was supported by NASA grant NNG06GA09G, HST and CFAO.

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