Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection
A strong cyclonic vortex has been observed on each of Saturn’s poles, coincident with a local maximum in observed tropospheric temperature. Neptune also exhibits a relatively warm, although much more transient, region on its south pole. Whether similar features exist on Jupiter will be resolved by t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Nature Publishing Group
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100773 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3589-5249 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2066-2082 |
| _version_ | 1811078273100152832 |
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| author | Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard O'Neill, Morgan E |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard O'Neill, Morgan E |
| author_sort | Emanuel, Kerry Andrew |
| collection | MIT |
| description | A strong cyclonic vortex has been observed on each of Saturn’s poles, coincident with a local maximum in observed tropospheric temperature. Neptune also exhibits a relatively warm, although much more transient, region on its south pole. Whether similar features exist on Jupiter will be resolved by the 2016 Juno mission. Energetic, small-scale storm-like features that originate from the water-cloud level or lower have been observed on each of the giant planets and attributed to moist convection, suggesting that these storms play a significant role in global heat transfer from the hot interior to space. Nevertheless, the creation and maintenance of Saturn’s polar vortices, and their presence or absence on the other giant planets, are not understood. Here we use simulations with a shallow-water model to show that storm generation, driven by moist convection, can create a strong polar cyclone throughout the depth of a planet’s troposphere. We find that the type of shallow polar flow that occurs on a giant planet can be described by the size ratio of small eddies to the planetary radius and the energy density of its atmosphere due to latent heating from moist convection. We suggest that the observed difference in these parameters between Saturn and Jupiter may preclude a Jovian polar cyclone. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:57:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/100773 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:57:03Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1007732024-05-15T03:17:17Z Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection Polar vortex formation in giant-planet atmospheres due to moist convection Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard O'Neill, Morgan E Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution O'Neill, Morgan E. O'Neill, Morgan E. Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard A strong cyclonic vortex has been observed on each of Saturn’s poles, coincident with a local maximum in observed tropospheric temperature. Neptune also exhibits a relatively warm, although much more transient, region on its south pole. Whether similar features exist on Jupiter will be resolved by the 2016 Juno mission. Energetic, small-scale storm-like features that originate from the water-cloud level or lower have been observed on each of the giant planets and attributed to moist convection, suggesting that these storms play a significant role in global heat transfer from the hot interior to space. Nevertheless, the creation and maintenance of Saturn’s polar vortices, and their presence or absence on the other giant planets, are not understood. Here we use simulations with a shallow-water model to show that storm generation, driven by moist convection, can create a strong polar cyclone throughout the depth of a planet’s troposphere. We find that the type of shallow polar flow that occurs on a giant planet can be described by the size ratio of small eddies to the planetary radius and the energy density of its atmosphere due to latent heating from moist convection. We suggest that the observed difference in these parameters between Saturn and Jupiter may preclude a Jovian polar cyclone. National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship National Science Foundation (U.S.) (ATM-0850639) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (AGS-1032244) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (AGS-1136480) United States. Office of Naval Research (N00014-14-1-0062) 2016-01-08T03:06:49Z 2016-01-08T03:06:49Z 2015-06 2014-12 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1752-0894 1752-0908 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100773 O’Neill, Morgan E, Kerry A. Emanuel, and Glenn R. Flierl. “Polar Vortex Formation in Giant-Planet Atmospheres Due to Moist Convection.” Nature Geosci 8, no. 7 (June 15, 2015): 523–526. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3589-5249 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2066-2082 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2459 Nature Geoscience Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Nature Publishing Group O'Neill |
| spellingShingle | Emanuel, Kerry Andrew Flierl, Glenn Richard O'Neill, Morgan E Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
| title | Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
| title_full | Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
| title_fullStr | Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
| title_full_unstemmed | Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
| title_short | Polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
| title_sort | polar vortex formation in giant planet atmospheres under moist convection |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100773 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3589-5249 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2066-2082 |
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