Jupiter's Stratospheric Oscillation

Details Jupiter's Stratospheric Oscillation Jupiter's Stratospheric Oscillation

Sep 1996

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.2207f&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #22.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1142

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The results of numerical simulations of the ``quasi-quadrennial'' oscillation (QQO), an oscillation of longitude-mean temperatures and winds occurring at low latitudes in Jupiter's stratosphere, are presented and are compared to ground-based measurements of the thermal infrared radiance at 7.8 mu m spanning the period 1980-1996. It is assumed in the simulations that the QQO is forced by stresses arising from the absorption of vertically propagating, equatorially trapped Kelvin and mixed Rossby-gravity waves, in analogy with our present understanding of the Earth's QBO. It is found that the QQO amplitude must be ~ 5 times larger than proposed by Leovy et al. (1991) to be consistent with the observations, and that the tropical wave forcing must be significant out to latitudes of approximately +/-15(deg) . Temperature variations associated with its vertical structure can be as large as 10 K peak-to-peak, while the 20-mbar level temperature may change by 15 K over the course of a QQO cycle. Hence, the QQO signal should be an important component in any remote or in situ observations of the Jovian equatorial stratospheric temperature structure. Work in progress focuses on determining whether any of the planetary scale waves which have been observed at low latitudes in Jupiter's atmosphere might be responsible for driving the QQO. It is suggested that planetary wave activity concentrated at the edges of the equatorial jet (Flasar and Conrath, 1994) might play an important role in supplying westward forcing for the oscillation. References: Flasar, F.M. and B.J. Conrath, BAAS 26, 1103 (1994). Leovy, C.B. et al., Nature 354, 380 (1991).

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