General circulation of giant planet atmospheres

The atmospheres of the giant planets are driven by differential solar heating and intrinsic heat fluxes emanating from the deep interior. We show that if both processes are taken into account in an energetic consistent manner, the observed large-scale features of the general circulations of all giant planet atmospheres can be reproduced. We use energetically consistent general circulation models to simulate the outer atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. In the models, the solar radiative fluxes are deposited in the upper atmosphere by absorption and scattering, and temporally constant and spatially homogeneous heat fluxes consistent with the observed intrinsic heat fluxes are imposed at the bottom boundary. Convection transports heat from the bottom boundary into the upper atmosphere when the intrinsic heat fluxes are sufficiently strong to generate statically unstable conditions. For Jupiter and Saturn, the intrinsic heat fluxes are strong enough to lead to convection, which generates Rossby waves in the equatorial upper atmosphere. Momentum transport associated with these Rossby waves leads to the generation of equatorial superrotation on Jupiter and Saturn. For Uranus and Neptune, the intrinsic heat fluxes are not strong enough to lead to convection penetrating into the upper atmosphere; as a consequence, the equatorial flow is retrograde. Differences in the optical properties of the atmospheres and in planetary parameters such as the gravitational acceleration and rotation rate can account for the differences in the general circulations of the giant planets, such as the different jet widths and strengths.