Unexpected long-term variability in Jupiter's tropospheric temperatures
Abstract
An essential component of planetary climatology is knowledge of the tropospheric temperature field and its variability. Previous studies of Jupiter hinted at non-seasonal periodic behaviour, as well as the presence of a dynamical relationship between tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures. However, these observations were made over time frames shorter than Jupiter's orbit or they used sparse sampling. Here we derive upper-tropospheric (330-mbar) temperatures over 40 years, covering several orbits of Jupiter. Periodicities of 4, 7-9 and 10-14 years were discovered that involve different latitude bands and seem disconnected from seasonal changes in solar heating. Anticorrelations of variability in opposite hemispheres were particularly striking at 16°, 22° and 30° from the equator. Equatorial temperature variations are also anticorrelated with those observed 60-70 km above. Such behaviour 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.
- Publication:
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Nature Astronomy
- Pub Date:
- February 2023
- DOI:
- 10.1038/s41550-022-01839-0
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2211.04398
- Bibcode:
- 2023NatAs...7..190O
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Primary file: 16 pages, 5 figures. Supplemental File (attached): 12 pages, 3 figures, 1 table