Turbulent Viscosity and Jupiter's Tidal Q

A recent estimate of tidal dissipation by turbulent viscosity in Jupiter's convective interior predicts that the current value of the planet's tidal Q ∼ 5 × 10⁶. We point out a fundamental error in this calculation, and show that turbulent dissipation alone implies that at present Q ∼ 5 × 10¹³. Our reduced estimat for the rate of tidal dissipation shows conclusively that tidal torques have produced only negligible modifications of the orbits of the Galilean satellites over the age of the solar system.