Related papers: Deep convection-driven vortex formation on Jupiter…
The Cassini and Juno probes have revealed large coherent cyclonic vortices in the polar regions of Saturn and Jupiter, a dramatic contrast from the east-west banded jet structure seen at lower latitudes. Debate has centered on whether the…
Numerous land and space-based observations have established that Saturn has a persistent hexagonal flow pattern near its north pole. While observations abound, the physics behind its formation is still uncertain. Although several…
The zonal winds on the surfaces of giant planets vary with latitude. Jupiter and Saturn, for example, have several bands of alternating eastward (prograde) and westward (retrograde) jets relative to the angular velocity of their global…
At the poles of Jupiter, cyclonic vortices are clustered together in patterns made up of equilateral triangles called vortex crystals. Such patterns are seen in laboratory flows but never before in a planetary atmosphere, where the planet's…
We explain the emergence and stability of the most important jets and vortices, in the highly turbulent Jupiter's atmosphere, by a statistical mechanics of the potential vorticity mixing. Using the Quasi-Geostrophic 1-1/2 layer, with…
The fluid dynamics in planet Saturn gives rise to alternating east-west jet streams, large cyclonic and anticyclonic vortices, and a dipole-dominant magnetic field which is highly axisymmetric about the planetary rotation axis. Modelling…
The weather layers of the gas giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, comprise the shallow atmospheric layers that are influenced energetically by a combination of incoming solar radiation and localised latent heating of condensates, as well as…
Recent observations of convection in the jovian atmosphere have demonstrated that convection is strongly concentrated at specific locations on planet. For instance, observations of lightning show that the cyclonic features (e.g,. belts and…
We find an instability resulting in generation of large-scale vorticity in a fast rotating small-scale turbulence or turbulent convection with inhomogeneous fluid density along the rotational axis in anelastic approximation. The large-scale…
The dissipation of tidal inertial waves in planetary and stellar convective regions is one of the key mechanisms that drive the evolution of star-planet/planet-moon systems. In this context, the interaction between tidal inertial waves and…
Recent measurements of Jupiter's gravitational moments by the Juno spacecraft and seismology of Saturn's rings suggest that the primordial composition gradients in the deep interior of these planets have persisted since their formation. One…
One prominent feature in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn is the appearance of large-scale vortices. However, the sustaining mechanism of these large-scale vortices remains unclear. One possible mechanism is that these large-scale…
The Juno mission observed that both poles of Jupiter have polar cyclones that are surrounded by a ring of circumpolar cyclones. The North Pole holds eight circumpolar cyclones and the South Pole possesses five, with both circumpolar rings…
The mean zonal flow observed on Jupiter consists of an intricate pattern of jets, or bands of zonal flow moving prograde or retrograde compared to the bulk planetary rotation. The strongest flow is a superrotating (prograde) jet near the…
A longstanding mystery about Jupiter has been the straightness and steadiness of its weather-layer jets, quite unlike terrestrial strong jets with their characteristic unsteadiness and long-wavelength meandering. The problem is addressed in…
The giant planet atmospheres exhibit alternating prograde (eastward) and retrograde (westward) jets of different speeds and widths, with an equatorial jet that is prograde on Jupiter and Saturn and retrograde on Uranus and Neptune. The jets…
The surface winds of Jupiter and Saturn are primarily zonal. Each planet exhibits strong prograde equatorial flow flanked by multiple alternating zonal winds at higher latitudes. The depth to which these flows penetrate has long been…
Gap-opening planets can generate dust-trapping vortices that may explain some of the latest discoveries of high-contrast crescent-shaped dust asymmetries in transition discs. While planet-induced vortices were previously thought to have…
Jupiter's poles feature striking polygons of cyclones that drift westward over time, a motion governed by beta-drift (vortex motion caused by the latitudinal variation of the Coriolis force). This study investigates how beta-drift and the…
We study the generation of large-scale vortices in rotating turbulent convection by means of Cartesian direct numerical simulations. We find that for sufficiently rapid rotation, cyclonic structures on a scale large in comparison to that of…