Infrared Characterization Of Jupiter'S Equatorial Disturbance Cycle

Keywords

Jupiter's equatorial zone cloud clearance in the infrared

Abstract

We use an infrared data set captured between 1984 and 2017 using several instruments and observatories to report five rare equatorial disturbances that completely altered the appearance of Jupiter's equatorial zone (EZ): the clearance of tropospheric clouds revealed a new 5-μm-bright band encircling the planet at the equator, accompanied by large 5-μm-bright filaments. Three events were observed in ground-based images in 1973, 1979, and 1992. We report and characterize for the first time the entire evolution of two new episodes of this unusual EZ state that presented their maximum 5-μm-brightness in December 1999 and February 2007, coinciding with a brown coloration south of the equator and with large bluish filaments and white plumes in the northern EZ at visible wavelengths. We characterize their typical infrared-bright lifetimes of 12–18 months, with possible periodicities of 6–8 or 13–14 years. We predict that a full-scale equatorial disturbance could occur in 2019–2021.

Publication Date

10-28-2018

Publication Title

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

45

Issue

20

Number of Pages

10987-10995

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080382

Socpus ID

85055949952 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85055949952

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