Microwave observations reveal the deep extent and structure of Jupiter's atmospheric vortices

Creators: Bolton, S. J.; Levin, S. M.; Guillot, T.; Li, C.; Kaspi, Y.; Orton, G.; Wong, M. H.; Oyafuso, F.; Allison, M.; Arballo, J.; Atreya, S.; Becker, H. N.; Bloxham, J.; Brown, S. T.; Fletcher, L. N.; Galanti, E.; Gulkis, S.; Janssen, M.; Ingersoll, A.; Lunine, J. L.; Misra, S.; Steffes, P.; Stevenson, D.; Waite, J. H.; Yadav, R. K.; Zhang, Z.

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Abstract

Jupiter's atmosphere has a system of zones and belts punctuated by small and large vortices, the largest being the Great Red Spot. How these features change with depth is unknown, with theories of their structure ranging from shallow meteorological features to surface expressions of deep-seated convection. We present observations of atmospheric vortices using the Juno spacecraft's Microwave Radiometer. We found vortex roots that extend deeper than the altitude at which water is expected to condense, and we identified density inversion layers. Our results constrain the three-dimensional structure of Jupiter's vortices and their extension below the clouds.

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© 2021 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 6 October 2020; accepted 28 September 2021. Published online 28 October 2021. We thank T. Fujiyoshi, J. Sinclair, and T. Momary for help in acquiring the Subaru data. S.J.B., J.H.W., S.M.L., J.A., S.T.B., S.G., G.O., and H.N.B. were funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). A portion of this research carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, was performed under contract 80NM0018D0004 with NASA. J.L.L. was funded by the Juno Project through a subcontract with the Southwest Research Institute. T.G. was funded by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. L.N.F. was supported by a Royal Society Research Fellowship and European Research Council Consolidator Grant (under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, grant agreement 723890). Y.K. and E.G. were sponsored by the Israeli Space Agency, the Helen Kimmel Center for Planetary Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS). M.H.W. was funded by NASA through cooperative agreement 80NSSC19M0189 and Juno Participating Scientist grant 80NSSC19K1265. M.H.W. and G.O. were supported by grants GO-14661 and GO-15665 from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. Author contributions: S.J.B. led the data analysis and interpretation of the MWR data and drafted the manuscript with input from coauthors T.G., M.H.W., Y.K., J.L.L., and S.M.L.; A.I., J.A., S.T.B., S.G., C.L., G.O., M.H.W., F.O., Z.Z., H.N.B., J.B., R.K.Y., M.A., and L.N.F. assisted with writing, interpretation, data analysis, and comparison between the HST, Gemini, and MWR data. M.H.W. and G.O. contributed to the acquisition of Gemini and HST data. J.L.L., D.S., T.G., Y.K., E.G., M.J., S.M., P.S., S.A., J.H.W., R.K.Y., and J.B. assisted with the writing, modeling, and interpretation of the MWR data. Competing interests: M.H.W. is also affiliated with the University of Michigan. J.L.L. is also affiliated with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. Data and materials availability: The MWR data are available from the Planetary Data System at https://pds-atmospheres.nmsu.edu/cgi-bin/getdir.pl?volume=jnomwr_1100; we used the IRDR files in directories 2019096 and 2017191. The reduced HST and Gemini data are available at (34). The raw HST data are available at https://archive.stsci.edu/hst/search.php under Proposal ID 15665, and raw Gemini data are at https://archive.gemini.edu/searchform under Program ID GN-2019A-Q-202. Our model results and Monte Carlo analysis code are archived at (35).

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