Dynamical implications of Jupiter's tropospheric ammonia abundance

Details Dynamical implications of Jupiter's tropospheric ammonia abundance Dynamical implications of Jupiter's tropospheric ammonia abundance

Mar 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005icar..174..192s&link_type=abstract

Icarus, Volume 174, Issue 1, p. 192-204.

Physics

12

Scientific paper

Groundbased radio observations indicate that Jupiter's ammonia is globally depleted from 0.6 bars to at least 4 6 bars relative to the deep abundance of ˜3 times solar, a fact that has so far defied explanation. The observations also indicate that (i) the depletion is greater in belts than zones, and (ii) the greatest depletion occurs within Jupiter's local 5-μm hot spots, which have recently been detected at radio wavelengths. Here, we first show that both the global depletion and its belt-zone variation can be explained by a simple model for the interaction of moist convection with Jupiter's cloud-layer circulation. If the global depletion is dynamical in origin, then important endmember models for the belt-zone circulation can be ruled out. Next, we show that the radio observations of Jupiter's 5-μm hot spots imply that the equatorial wave inferred to cause hot spots induces vertical parcel oscillation of a factor of ˜2 in pressure near the 2-bar level, which places important constraints on hot-spot dynamics. Finally, using spatially resolved radio maps, we demonstrate that low-latitude features exceeding ˜4000 km diameter, such as the equatorial plumes and large vortices, are also depleted in ammonia from 0.6 bars to at least 2 bars relative to the deep abundance of 3 times solar. If any low-latitude features exist that contain 3-times-solar ammonia up to the 0.6-bar ammonia condensation level, they must have diameters less than ˜4000 km.

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