Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Weather inquiry - What is the weather like on Jupiter?

What is the weather like on Jupiter?

The atmosphere of Jupiter is the largest planetary atmosphere in the solar system. It is mainly composed of hydrogen molecules and hydrogen molecules in roughly the same proportion as the Sun. Other chemical components, including methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and water, are only present in small amounts. . Water is thought to exist deep in the atmosphere, so the observed values ??are low. The abundance of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and noble gases is approximately three times that of the Sun.

Jupiter's atmosphere lacks a clear lower boundary and gradually transitions into a fluid interior. From the lowest point to the highest point, the layers of the atmosphere are the troposphere, stratosphere, warming layer and exosphere, and each layer has its own temperature gradient characteristics [3]. The lowest troposphere has a complex system of clouds and mist that appears hazy, including several layers of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide ammonia, and water. The upper ammonia clouds visible on Jupiter's surface are organized into 12 ribbons parallel to the equator and separated by powerful ribbons of air (winds) called jets. These alternating clouds have different colors: dark clouds are called belts, and bright clouds are called zones. The temperature of the zone is lower than that of the belt, which is the rising air flow, while the belt is the descending gas. The lighter colored areas are thought to be formed from ammonia ice, but the material forming the darker bands is not known. The origin of these ribbons and jets is also not understood, but two models exist to explain it. The shoal model considers them to be surface phenomena overlying a stable internal structure. The deep model believes that the belts and jets are organized into a certain number of cylinders, which are hydrogen molecular cycles that penetrate deep into Jupiter's mantle and appear on the surface of Jupiter.

Jupiter's atmosphere displays a wide range of activity, including unstable ribbons, vortices (cyclones and anticyclones), storms, and lightning. The vortex itself will appear as a huge red, white or brown spot (oblong), the two largest spots are the Great Red Spot and the BA Oval, which is also red. These two and many other large spots are anticyclones, smaller anticyclones tend to be white, and the vortices are thought to be no deeper than a few hundred kilometers, making them relatively shallow structures. The Great Red Spot, located in the southern hemisphere, is the largest known vortex in the solar system. It can accommodate several Earths and has existed for at least 300 years. The BA ellipse is located to the south of the Great Red Spot and is one-third the size of the Great Red Spot. It was a red spot formed by the merger of three white ovals in 2000.

Jupiter has powerful storms, often accompanied by lightning. Storms are the result of convection currents in the moist atmosphere causing water to evaporate and condense. They are the starting point for powerful updrafts that form bright and dense clouds. Storms mainly form in belt areas. There are a few lightning flashes on Jupiter that are far more powerful than those on Earth, but the average activity level is only comparable to that on Earth.