Modeling Jupiter's Cloud Decks And Bands

Details Modeling Jupiter's Cloud Decks And Bands Modeling Jupiter's Cloud Decks And Bands

Oct 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.0108z&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #1.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.408

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

A simple Jovian cloud model based on an existing version for Venus and Mars has been developed for the Oxford Planetary Unified model System (OPUS), a sophisticated GCM solving the extended hydrodynamic primitive equations. NH3-ice, NH4SH, H2O-ice and H2O-liquid are supposed to form the major cloud decks on Jupiter. These four species have been modeled by OPUS. We obtained NH3-ice clouds at realistic heights and with the expected structure of high, dense clouds in zones as well as almost cloud free belts. The two water clouds formed deeper in the atmosphere below 4 bar and showed maximum cloud content in the South temperate belt area. The newly developed simple OPUS cloud scheme was therefore able to represent Jupiter's cloud structure reasonably realistic.
OPUS operates a Newtonian forcing scheme for temperature and the zonal momentum components. A sensitivity study was conducted examining the effects of different thermal and momentum forcing constants on the atmospheric configurations and cloud decks obtained. It could be seen that thermal forcing induces upwelling in zones with strength proportional to the radiative time constant. Weak thermal forcing produced cloud decks of uniform heights and lesser density contrasts between belts and zones. A reversed pattern of upwelling maxima could be induced by strong momentum forcing in the three bottom layers of the model.
Based on the passive cloud scheme a Jovian moist convection mixing scheme is currently developed for OPUS. The convection parametrization uses a heat engine framework and is envisioned to further improve the realism of the model.

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