What is it about?
This article describes how pressure and temperature differences inside and outside of Jupiter's high-pressure storms affect the observable clouds on the planet. Examples are given that demonstrate how high-pressure areas are cooler than their surroundings in order to fit under the planet's tropopause, which is the nearly flat top of the troposphere. These cooler temperatures are what cause cloudiness inside high-pressure areas, not upwelling.
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Why is it important?
This article illustrates the important point that vertical circulations are considerably weaker on Jupiter and Saturn compared to Earth and Mars. Air leaks out of the bottom of high-pressure storms on Earth and Mars, where surface friction acts, and this draws new air downwards into the storm to compensate. Likewise, air leaks into the bottom of low-pressure storms on Earth and Mars, collects in the center and then rises, whereas there are no such leaks into low-pressure storms on Jupiter and Saturn. Distinguishing differences between these vertical or "secondary" circulations for different planet types is fundamental to achieving a better understanding of complex weather patterns.
Perspectives
Even planetary scientists who should know better routinely fall into the trap of assuming that cloudy areas on Jupiter and Saturn signal upwelling, and clear areas signal downwelling. This is arguably the biggest misconception associated with the atmospheres of gas giants.
Professor Timothy E. Dowling
University of Louisville
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: 3D Modeling of interactions between Jupiter’s ammonia clouds and large anticyclones, Icarus, April 2014, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2014.01.005.
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