Jovian temperature and cloud variability during the 2009–2010 fade of the South Equatorial Belt

Fletcher, Leigh N.; Orton, Glenn S.; Rogers, J. H.; Simon-Miller, A. A.; Pater, Imke de; Wong, Michael H.; Mousis, O.; Irwin, Patrick; Jacquesson, M.; Yanamandra-Fisher, P.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.03.007

Cited by 40 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In an analysis of the 2010 fading of the South Equatorial Belt (SEB), Fletcher et al (2011) present observations at 8.6 and 10.8 µm which reveal that the top of the Northern Red Oval is slightly colder than the ambient temperature at the same pressure level, similar to findings for the GRS and Oval BA (e.g., Conrath et al 1981;Cheng et al 2008;Fletcher et al 2010). This suggests that air is baroclinically rising along the center axis of the oval.…”

Section: Secondary Circulationsupporting

confidence: 59%

“…This suggests that air is baroclinically rising along the center axis of the oval. Fletcher et al (2011) further noticed that the lower-than-ambient temperature above the Northern Red Oval extends over an area that is smaller than that covered by the aerosols. This implies that the subsiding part of the secondary circulation probably does take place inside the oval; the temperature is only belowambient at the top of the vortex where air is rising, not subsiding.…”

Section: Secondary Circulationmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Keck adaptive optics images of Jupiter’s north polar cap and Northern Red Oval

Pater

Wong

Kleer

et al. 2011

Icarus

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Section: Secondary Circulationsupporting

confidence: 59%

Section: Secondary Circulationmentioning

confidence: 94%

Keck adaptive optics images of Jupiter’s north polar cap and Northern Red Oval

Pater

Wong

Kleer

et al. 2011

Icarus

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“…This is a reasonable result not only because of the smaller time difference between both profiles but also because of the visual appearance of the cloud morphology in both years. The appearance is very similar despite recent large-scale cyclic variations such as the Fade (2009−10) and Revival (2010) of the SEB (Pérez-Hoyos et al 2012;Fletcher et al 2011) or the impact of a 500 m object with Jupiter in 2009 at −55 • latitude (Sánchez-Lavega et al 2010), which resulted in a large dark debris cloud that moved at the same velocity as the general flow as retrieved from HST (Hammel et al 2010) and ground-based observations (Sánchez-Lavega et al 2011). The only notorious change between these two epochs occurred at latitude 27−28 • , where 2008 HST data showed a westward acceleration of the A74, page 8 of 11 jet (Asay-Davis et al 2011).…”

Section: Long-term Variationsmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…The mean intensity of the winds has shown temporal variability on the order of ∼10 ms −1 (Asay-Davis et al 2011) and a remarkable stability of the latitudes of the zonal jets' maximum velocities. Although some of the bands' morphology changes in periods of years (Peek 1958;Chapman & Reese 1968;Reese 1972;Minton 1972a,b;Smith & Hunt 1976;Sánchez-Lavega & Rodrigo 1985;Rogers 1995;Sánchez-Lavega & Gómez 1996;Sánchez-Lavega et al 1996;Fletcher et al 2011;Pérez-Hoyos et al 2012), the wind profile maintains a remarkable temporal stability. Furthermore, this zonal wind profile is not strongly affected by the dynamic perturbations at cloud level, such as those developed by convective storms like the South Equatorial Belt Disturbance (SEBD; Sánchez-Lavega et al 1996;Sánchez-Lavega & Gómez 1996) and the North Temperate Belt Disturbance (NTBD) (García-Melendo et al 2005Sánchez-Lavega et al 2008;Barrado-Izagirre et al 2009a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Jupiter’s zonal winds and their variability studied with small-size telescopes

Barrado-Izagirre

Rojas

Hueso

et al. 2013

A&A

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Context. The general circulation of Jupiter's atmosphere at cloud level is dominated by a system of zonal jets that alternate in direction with latitude. The winds, measured in high-resolution images obtained by different space missions and the Hubble Space Telescope, are overall stable in their latitude location with small changes in intensity at particular jets. However, the atmosphere experiences repetitive changes in the albedo of particular belts and zones that are subject to large-scale intense disturbances that may locally influence the profile. Aims. The lack of high-resolution images has not allowed the wind system to be studied with the regularity required to assess its stability with respect to these major changes or to other types of variations (e.g., seasonality). To amend that, we present a study of the zonal wind profile of Jupiter using images acquired around the 2011 opposition by a network of observers operating small-size telescopes with apertures in the range 0.20−1 m. Methods. Using an automatic correlation technique, we demonstrate the capability to extract the mean zonal winds in observing periods close to the opposition. A broad collaboration with skilled amateur astronomers opens the possibility to regularly study shortand long-term changes in the jets of Jupiter. Results. We compare the 2011 Jovian wind profile to those previously obtained. The winds did not experience significant short-term changes over 2011 but show noteworthy variations at particular latitudes when compared with wind profiles from previous years. Most of these variations are related to major changes in the cloud morphology of the planet, in particular at 7 • N where an intense eastward jet varies around 40 ms −1 in its intensity according to the development or not of the "dark projection" features, confirming previous results.

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“…Irregular and brusque variations caused by storms or structural changes in the planet's belts have also been observed in giant planets (e.g. Tejfel et al 1994;Sánchez-Lavega 1994;Rogers 2009;Fletcher et al 2011;Pérez-Hoyos et al 2012), and they are likely to happen in ultracool dwarfs as well. Photometric data from different epochs, separated by months, are already available for a few ultracool dwarfs (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Long-termKs-band photometric monitoring of L dwarfs

Martí¹,

Osorio²

2014

A&A

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Context. Ultracool dwarfs ( < ∼ 2500 K) are known to display photometric variability in short timescales (hours to days), which has usually been related to rotation-modulated dust cloud patterns, or to unresolved companions. Aims. We perform photometric time-series analysis of a sample of ten early to mid-L dwarfs in the field over three years of Ks-band observations with the OMEGA 2000 infrared camera of the 3.5 m telescope on Calar Alto Observatory between January 2010 and December 2012. This study represents the first systematic long-term photometric monitoring of this kind of object to date. Methods. We perform Ks-band differential photometry of our targets (with typical errors of ±15−30 mmag at the 1σ level) by subtracting a reference flux from each photometric measurement. This reference flux is computed using three nearby, probably constant stars in the target's field-of-view. We then construct and visually inspect the light curves to search for variability, and use four different periodogram algorithms to look for possible periods in our photometric data. Results. Our targets do not display long-term variability over 1σ compared to other nearby stars of similar brightness, nor do the periodograms unveil any possible periodicity for these objects, with two exceptions: 2MASS J02411151-0326587 and G196-3B. In the case of 2MASS J02411151-0326587 (L0), our data suggest a tentative period of 307 ± 21 days, at 40% confidence level, which seems to be associated with peak-to-peak variability of 44 ± 10 mmag. This object may also display variability in timescales of years, as suggested by the comparison of our Ks-band photometry with 2MASS. For G196-3B (L3), we find peak-to-peak variations of 42 ± 10 mmag, with a possible photometric period of 442 ± 7 days, at 95% confidence level. This is roughly the double of the astrometric period reported by Zapatero Osorio et al. (2014, A&A, 568, A6). Given the significance of these results, further photometric data are required to confirm the long-term variability. Conclusions. Our results suggest that early-to mid-L dwarfs are fairly stable in the Ks-band within ±90 mmag at the 3σ level over months to years, which covers hundreds to tens of thousands of rotation cycles. Two out of ten targets show periodic photometric variability at 2.2 µm with peak-to-peak variations of about 40 mmag and tentative periods of ∼300 and ∼450 d.

show abstract

Jovian temperature and cloud variability during the 2009–2010 fade of the South Equatorial Belt

Cited by 40 publications

References 30 publications

Keck adaptive optics images of Jupiter’s north polar cap and Northern Red Oval

Keck adaptive optics images of Jupiter’s north polar cap and Northern Red Oval

Jupiter’s zonal winds and their variability studied with small-size telescopes

Long-termKs-band photometric monitoring of L dwarfs

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