Unexpected Long-Term Variability in Jupiter's Tropospheric Temperatures [EPA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2211.04398


An essential component of planetary climatology is knowledge of the tropospheric temperature field and its variability. Previous studies of Jupiter hinted at periodic behavior that was non-seasonal, as well as dynamical relationships between tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures. However, these observations were made over time frames shorter than Jupiter’s orbit or they used sparse sampling. We derived upper-tropospheric (300-mbar) temperatures over 40 years, extending those studies to cover several orbits of Jupiter, revealing unexpected results. Periodicities of 4, 7 8-9 and 10-14 years were discovered that involved different latitude bands and seem disconnected from seasonal changes in solar heating. Anti-correlations of variability in opposite hemispheres were particularly striking at 16, 22 and 30 degrees from the equator. Equatorial temperature variations are also anticorrelated with those 60-70 km above. Such behavior suggests a top-down control of equatorial tropospheric temperatures from stratospheric dynamics. Realistic future global climate models must address the origins of these variations in preparation for their extension to a wider array of gas-giant exoplanets.

Read this paper on arXiv…

G. Orton, A. Antunano, L. Fletcher, et. al.
Wed, 9 Nov 22
30/76

Comments: Primary file: 16 pages, 5 figures. Supplemental File (attached): 12 pages, 3 figures, 1 table