The Shape of Jupiter and Saturn Based on Atmospheric Dynamics, Radio Occultations and Gravity Measurements

Autor: E. Galanti, Y. Kaspi, T. Guillot
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol 50, Iss 6, Pp n/a-n/a (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1944-8007
0094-8276
DOI: 10.1029/2022GL102321
Popis: Abstract The shape of the two gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn, is determined primarily by their rotation rate, and interior density distribution. It is also affected by their zonal winds, causing an anomaly of O(10 km) at low latitudes. However, uncertainties in the observed cloud‐level wind and the polar radius, translate to an uncertainty in the shape with the same order of magnitude. The Juno (Jupiter) and Cassini (Saturn) missions gave unprecedented accurate gravity measurements, constraining better the uncertainty in the wind structure. Using an accurate shape calculation, and a joint optimization, given both gravity and radio‐occultation measurements, we calculate the possible range of dynamical height for both planets. We find that for Saturn there is an excellent match to the radio‐occultation measurements, while at Jupiter such a match is not achieved. This may point to deviations from a barotropic flow above the cloud level, which might be tested with the forthcoming radio‐occultation measurements by Juno.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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