The depth of Jupiter's Great Red Spot constrained by the Juno gravity overflights

Creators: Parisi, Marzia; Kaspi, Yohai; Galanti, Eli; Durante, Daniele; Bolton, Scott; Levin, Steven; Buccino, Dustin; Fletcher, Leigh; Folkner, William; Guillot, Tristan; Helled, Ravit; Iess, Luciano; Li, Cheng; Oudrhiri, Kamal; Wong, Michael

Others:: Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) ; NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH); Weizmann Institute of Science [Rehovot, Israël]; Joseph Louis LAGRANGE (LAGRANGE) ; Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) (UNS) ; COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA)-COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur ; COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) (COMUE UCA)-Université Côte d'Azur (UCA)-Université Côte d'Azur (UCA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Universität Zürich [Zürich] = University of Zurich (UZH); University of California [Berkeley] (UC Berkeley) ; University of California (UC)

Description

Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) is the largest atmospheric vortex in the Solar System and has been observed for at least two centuries. It has been unclear how deep the vortex extends beneath its visible cloud tops. We examined the gravity signature of the GRS using data from 12 encounters of the Juno spacecraft with the planet, including two direct overflights of the vortex. Localized density anomalies due to the presence of the GRS caused a shift in the spacecraft line-of-sight velocity. Using two different approaches to infer the GRS depth, which yielded consistent results, we conclude that the GRS is contained within the upper 500 kilometers of Jupiter's atmosphere.

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The depth of Jupiter's Great Red Spot constrained by the Juno gravity overflights

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