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Interpretation of the Jupiter Red Spot, 1With the aid of 8900 micron CH4 filter photographs it is shown that the Red Spot is normally the highest cloud feature in the Jovian atmosphere, located squarely on the South Tropical Zone at 22 deg. S. The Red Spot is a rising column, obviously having its own energy source; it spreads outward at the top level, in anticyclonic rotation. It is concluded that the large and persistent Jovian cloud masses, of which the Red Spot is the largest, are major organized storm arrays embedded in a near stagnant atmosphere, each probably possessing numerous short-lived rising hot columns driven by released latent heat; and covered by a horizontally-expanding gigantic cirrus cloud system, in anti-cyclonic rotation. The meteorological theory of Organized Cumulus Convection is applied to the Red Spot and the White Ovals. Evidence exists that the array of hot towers under the Red Spot is eccentric. The 90-day and the occassional 5-8 year fluctuations in the motion of the Red Spot may be due to processes analogous to those found in the Earth's Tropical Convergence. The 90-day oscillation has been observed for 8 years.
Document ID
19740019207
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Other
Authors
Kuiper, G. P.
(Arizona Univ. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Date Acquired
August 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1973
Publication Information
Publication: Commun. of the Lunar and Planetary Lab.: Commun. Nos. 173-183, Vol. 9, Part 5
Subject Category
Space Sciences
Accession Number
74N27320
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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