Jupiter's Polar Regions in the Ultraviolet as Imaged by HST/WFPC2: Auroral-Aligned Features and Zonal Motions
- Creators
- Vincent, Mark B.
- Clarke, John T.
- Ballester, Gilda E.
- Harris, Walter M.
- West, Robert A.
- Trauger, John T.
- Evans, Robin W.
- Stapelfeldt, Karl R.
- Crisp, David
- Burrows, Christopher J.
- Gallagher, John S., III
- Griffiths, Richard E.
- Hester, J. Jeff
- Hoessel, John G.
- Mould, Jeremy R.
- Scowen, Paul A.
- Watson, Alan M.
- Westphal, James A.
Abstract
Jupiter's polar regions are examined using ultraviolet (UV, 120–320 nm) images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 over the period of 1994–1997. These images probe the stratospheric aerosols at pressures of a few tens of millibars. We discovered a UV-darkened segment in the polar shading just equatorward of the north polar hood that remained aligned with the southern-most portion of the north auroral oval. The darkened segment generally extended over 100°–260° System III longitude, and 39°–53°N planetocentric latitude in the F160W, F218W, and F255W images. No single type of feature in the F218W and F255W images appeared consistently aligned within the outline of the north auroral oval, but several transient features were observed. It is not certain whether these transient features were associated with auroral processes, or just coincidentally aligned. A "south dark patch" was consistently observed within the outline of the south auroral oval and was temporally variable in size and shape. By tracking selected features, we obtained the first direct measurements of the zonal motions in Jupiter's high-latitude stratosphere. Primarily retrograde motions were observed from 41°N to 60°N. Both prograde and retrograde motions appeared from 48°S to 71°S. We propose that the asymmetric appearance of the polar hoods (R. A. West 1979, Icarus 38, 12–33; R. Wagener and J. Caldwell 1988, Icarus 74, 141–152) is influenced, in part, by meridional mixing in the stratosphere. Enhanced meridional mixing would tend to be more effective at dispersing the polar aerosols to lower latitudes in the north than in the south.
Additional Information
© 2000 Academic Press. Received September 18, 1998; revised July 21, 1999. This paper is a continuation of the first author's Doctoral Dissertation work. I acknowledge the members of my committee: John T. Clarke, Gilda E. Ballester, Walter M. Harris,William R. Kuhn, Patrick O. Seitzer, and Robert A.West. This work is based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which is operated by the AURA, Inc. for NASA under Contract NAS5-26555. This work has been supported by NASA Grant NAGW-5235, Grant AR05797.01-94A from the STSCI, and WFPC2 Grant JPL 959122 from JPL to the University of Michigan.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 51587
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20141111-131715271
- NASA
- NAS5-26555
- NASA
- NAGW-5235
- Space Telescope Science Institute (STSCI)
- AR05797.01-94A
- WFPC2
- JPL
- JPL 959122
- Created
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2014-11-11Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field