Statistics – Computation
Scientific paper
Oct 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.1129l&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #11.29; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1023
Statistics
Computation
Scientific paper
Starting with the original Great Dark Spot of Neptune, the large geophysical vortices of the Ice Giants have often been observed with an accompanying methane ice cloud. These long-lived orographic clouds appear as a consequence of the surrounding gas being lifted over the vortex; in turn, recent numerical simulations suggest that the existence of these persistent clouds can significantly alter the dynamics of the vortex. Therefore, it appears that these features are more properly considered in the context of a vortex-cloud system rather than as separate phenomena.
Previous simulations with the Explicit Planetary Isentropic Coordinate General Circulation Model (EPIC GCM) have replicated both vortex dynamics (such as latitudinal drift and shape oscillations) and methane orographic cloud formation similar to those observed_the challenge is now to combine these into an accurate computational model of the full system. From a numerical standpoint, this requires a fuller representation of the cloud microphysics along with simulations of high resolution both in the horizontal and vertical directions. Progress in this effort has continued to illustrate the potential importance of companion clouds in maintaining vortex stability in addition to changing the vortex dynamics. In time, further exploration of the cloud-vortex interaction will give us a better understanding of the physics of the ice giant atmospheres, including possible cloud-vortex combinations in which the vortex is largely undetectable but critical to the apparent stability and motion of the more readily observed cloud feature.
This work is supported by NASA Planetary Atmospheres Grant NNX09AB66G.
Deng Xinghua
Le Beau Raymond P.
Palotai Csaba
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