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Observations and Numerical Modeling of the Jovian RibbonMultiple wavelength observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope in early 2007 show the presence of a wavy, high-contrast feature in Jupiter's atmosphere near 30 degrees North. The "Jovian Ribbon," best seen at 410 nanometers, irregularly undulates in latitude and is time-variable in appearance. A meridional intensity gradient algorithm was applied to the observations to track the Ribbon's contour. Spectral analysis of the contour revealed that the Ribbon's structure is a combination of several wavenumbers ranging from k equals 8-40. The Ribbon is a dynamic structure that has been observed to have spectral power for dominant wavenumbers which vary over a time period of one month. The presence of the Ribbon correlates with periods when the velocity of the westward jet at the same location is highest. We conducted numerical simulations to investigate the stability of westward jets of varying speed, vertical shear, and background static stability to different perturbations. A Ribbon-like morphology was best reproduced with a 35 per millisecond westward jet that decreases in amplitude for pressures greater than 700 hectopascals and a background static stability of N equals 0.005 per second perturbed by heat pulses constrained to latitudes south of 30 degrees North. Additionally, the simulated feature had wavenumbers that qualitatively matched observations and evolved throughout the simulation reproducing the Jovian Ribbon's dynamic structure.
Document ID
20150021050
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Cosentino, R. G.
(New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology Socorro, NM, United States)
Simon, A.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Morales-Juberias, R.
(New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology Socorro, NM, United States)
Sayanagi, K. M.
(Hampton Univ. VA, United States)
Date Acquired
November 10, 2015
Publication Date
August 25, 2015
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal Letters
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Volume: 810
Issue: 1
Subject Category
Numerical Analysis
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN26470
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX14AH47G
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS5-26555
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX12AR38G
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Saturnian Ribbon
Jovian Ribbon
Explicit Planetary Isentropic-Coordinate

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