A thorough examination of data spanning four decades has discovered something fishy going on with Jupiter.
Jupiter is considered the biggest planet in the Solar System, so it should come as no surprise that it is incredibly different from ours. What’s curious, though, is the fact that it is stunned by ferocious winds, wrapped in some thick layers of clouds that can reach proportions greater than Earth. So far, scientists have just now started comprehending its harsh weather.
Discover the full story below and learn more about Jupiter’s hectic nature.
Jupiter’s Clouds Aren’t That Mysterious Anymore
We found a connection between how the temperatures varied at very distant latitudes; it’s similar to a phenomenon we see on Earth, where weather and climate patterns in one region can have a noticeable influence on weather elsewhere, with the patterns of variability seemingly ‘teleconnected’ across vast distances through the atmosphere, explained planetary scientist Glenn Orton of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Different latitude bands were discovered to have temperature swings with periodicities of 4, 7 to 9, and 10 to 14 years. Researchers discovered that they aren’t related to seasonal temperature changes. Quite impressive, right?!
But something seemed a bit off.
In the northern hemisphere, for example, temperatures increase at certain latitudes. On the other hand, in the southern hemisphere, they fall at those latitudes, notably at 16, 22, and 30 degrees. How’s that possible?!
Apparently, Jupiter is somehow divided in half by its equator, preserving thermal equilibrium.
A hint can be discovered higher in Jupiter’s atmosphere, in the clear stratospheric layer that resides above the clouded troposphere, as to what causes or relates these temperature changes. An opposing fluctuation mirrors variations in the troposphere’s temperature in the stratosphere around Jupiter’s equator.
According to researchers, whatever occurs at higher elevations may impact events below or vice versa.
The Very Large Telescope, NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility, the Subaru Telescope, and data from the equipment on board the Voyager and Cassini space probes all provided decades’ worth of thermal data to work with. All of this sheds some light on researchers’ work, so we get to understand better what’s happening on Jupiter.