Bibcode
Sanchez-Lavega, Agustin; Orton, G. S.; Hueso, R.; Pérez-Hoyos, S.; Fletcher, L. N.; Garcia-Melendo, E.; Gomez, J. M.; de Pater, I.; Wong, M.; Hammel, H. B.; Yanamandra-Fisher, P.; Simon-Miller, M.; Barrado-Izagirre, N.; Marchis, F.; Mousis, O.; Ortiz, J. L.; Garcia, J.; Cecconi, M.; Clarke, J. T.; Noll, K.; Pedraz, S.; Wesley, A.; McConnel, N.; Kalas, P.; Graham, J.; McKenzie, L.; Reddy, V.; Golisch, W.; Griep, D.; Sears, P.; International Outer PLanet Watch (IOPW)
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #31.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1009
Advertised on:
10
2010
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We report the evolution of the cloud of aerosols produced in the
atmosphere of Jupiter by the impact of an object in 19 July 2009
(Sánchez-Lavega et al., Astrophys. J. Lett, Vol. 715, L155.
2010). This study is based on images obtained with a battery of
ground-based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope in the visible
and in the deep near infrared absorption bands at 2.1-2.3 microns from
the impact date to 31 December 2009. The impact cloud expanded zonally
from 5000 km (July 19) to 225,000 km (about 180 deg in longitude by 29
October) and it was meridionally localized within a latitude band from
-53.5 deg to -61.5 deg. During the first two months it showed a
heterogeneous structure with embedded spots of a size of 500 - 1000 km.
The cloud was mainly dispersed in longitude by the dominant zonal winds
and their meridional shear and, during the initial stages, by the action
of local motions perhaps originated by the thermal perturbation produced
at the impact site. The tracking of individual spots within the impact
cloud showed that the winds increase their eastward velocity with
altitude above the tropopause by 5-10 m/s. We found evidence of discrete
localized meridional motions in the equatorward direction with speeds of
1 - 2 m/s. Measurements of the cloud reflectivity evolution during the
whole period showed that it followed an exponential decrease with a
characteristic time of 15 days, shorter than the 45 - 200 days
sedimentation time for the small aerosol particles in the stratosphere.
A radiative transfer model of the cloud optical depth coupled to an
advection model of the cloud dispersion by the wind shears, reproduces
this behavior. Acknowledgements: ASL, RH, SPH, NBI are supported by the
Spanish MICIIN AYA2009-10701 with FEDER and Grupos Gobierno Vasco
IT-464-07.