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J. Harrington (Cornell), D. Deming (NASA/GSFC)
We have observed planetary-scale atmospheric waves on Jupiter on each of our several observing runs over the past decade. To date we have detected 24 waves in cloud opacity power spectra that pass both power significance and phase coherence tests over four months of observation. We have also detected thermal waves of ~0.1 K amplitude in each of the several years when we have sought them. Waves transport energy and momentum from one place to another without bulk mass transport, and we look to them for answers to Jupiter's many energy puzzles. How does low-obliquity Jupiter achieve uniform temperature from pole to pole? How are localized dynamical effects like wind speed changes and convective cycles driven? A search by Ortiz \it{et al.} (\em{J. Geophys. Res.} 103 23,051--23,069) using different techniques and different data confirmed the single one of our cloud-opacity waves in their search region. They use this wave to explain the 5-{\micron} hot spots. Friedson's (1999, {\em Icarus} 137 34--55) theory for the quasi-quadrennial oscillation invokes an equatorially-trapped Kelvin wave with similar characteristics to another of our detected cloud-opacity waves. (Our search was insensitive to the fast waves proposed by Li and Read 1999, Submitted to {\em Planetary and Space Science}). Our detected cloud-opacity waves cluster in groups, located within a few degrees of 45\deg N, 5\circ N, 40\circ S, and 50\circ S planetographic latitude. There are also individual waves at 5\circ S and 20\circ N, latitudes where Simon (1999, {\em Icarus,} in press) found a large variation in the speed of zonal jets between 1995 and 1998. We continue to search for waves in several datasets and present our latest results.
This material is based upon work supported by NASA under Grant Numbers NAG5-7965 and NAG5-7373.
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