Peering through Jupiter's clouds with radio spectral imaging

Imke de Pater; R J Sault; Bryan Butler; David DeBoer; Michael H Wong

doi:10.1126/science.aaf2210

Peering through Jupiter's clouds with radio spectral imaging

Science. 2016 Jun 3;352(6290):1198-201. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf2210.

Authors

Imke de Pater¹, R J Sault², Bryan Butler³, David DeBoer⁴, Michael H Wong⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Astronomy, 501 Campbell Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2629 HS Delft, Netherlands. SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, 3584 CA Utrecht, Netherlands.
² School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
³ National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM 87801, USA.
⁴ Department of Astronomy, 501 Campbell Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

PMID: 27257253
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf2210

Abstract

Radio wavelengths can probe altitudes in Jupiter's atmosphere below its visible cloud layers. We used the Very Large Array to map this unexplored region down to ~8 bar, ~100 kilometers below the visible clouds. Our maps reveal a dynamically active planet at pressures less than 2 to 3 bar. A radio-hot belt exists, consisting of relatively transparent regions (a low ammonia concentration, NH3 being the dominant source of opacity) probing depths to over ~8 bar; these regions probably coincide with 5-micrometer hot spots. Just to the south we distinguish an equatorial wave, bringing up ammonia gas from Jupiter's deep atmosphere. This wave has been theorized to produce the 5-micrometer hot spots; we observed the predicted radio counterpart of such hot spots.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.