The clouds in Jupiter's North Northrate Belt are captured in this image. There are several bright-white clouds as well as an anticyclonic storm in the scene. The image was taken at 4:58 pm. The spacecraft flew by Jupiter for the 16th time. The enhanced image is based on images provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS.
The largest planet in our solar system is being hurt by a NASA-funded satellite that takes pictures of it. The raw materials for a new study published today in Nature Physics were given by these photographs.
Lia Siegelman, a physical oceanographer and a PhD student at the University of California San Diego, decided to pursue the research after she noticed that the Jupiter's pole cyclones seem to share similarities with ocean winds. Siegelman and colleagues used an array of images and principles used in fluid dynamics to show that moist convection drives these storms.
Siegelman said that the turbulence around the Jovian cyclones reminded him of the turbulence in the ocean. Satellite images of plankton blooms show these characteristics.
Siegelman says that by understanding Jupiter's energy system, we can better understand the physical mechanisms at play on our own planet.
She said that studying a planet that is so far away is fascinating. Do these processes hold true for our own blue dot?
The Red Spot can be seen from Jupiter's poles, but previous satellites have provided views of the region. The Italian Space Agency supports the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM), an instrument on the Juno spacecraft that captures heat signatures.
Siegelman and colleagues looked at an array of images from Jupiter's north polar region and the polar vortex cluster. The researchers were able to calculate wind speed and direction from the images. The team interpreted the images in terms of cloud thickness. Thin clouds correspond to hot regions, where it is possible to see deeper into Jupiter's atmosphere. Cold regions blanket Jupiter's atmosphere.
The researchers were given clues on the system's energy. The researchers found that the rapidly rising air within clouds acts as an energy source that feeds larger scales up to the large circumpolar and polar cyclones.
Scientists were the first to look at the large polar cyclones, which have a radius of about 1,000 kilometers, when the Jovian system's first explorer, Juno, arrived in the year of 2016 At Jupiter's north pole there are eight of these storms, and at the south pole there are five of them. Five years ago, these storms were first seen. Researchers are unsure of how they started or how long they have been circulating, but they know that moist convection sustains them. After observing lightning in storms on Jupiter, researchers first suspected this energy transfer.
The public and researchers alike will be provided with novel images of the planet and its extensive lunar system when Jupiter is continued to be circled by Juno.
Lia Siegelman is the author of Nature Physics, which states that moist convection drives an upscale energy transfer at Jovian high latitudes. www.nature.com/articles/s41567-021-01458-y
Nature physics journal information.
Ocean physics explain the storms on Jupiter.
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