With recent advances in radio telescope technology, astronomers are finally starting to cut through Jupiter’s swirling clouds to see what’s happening down below. Using the Very Large Array in New Mexico, a team led by the University of California, Berkeley, has produced a map of Jupiter’s atmosphere down to 100 km (60 miles) depth, revealing the gas giant’s noxious, ammonia-rich clouds and atmospheric circulation patterns in unprecedented detail.
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The analysis has revealed an active weather system in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere that’s rife with ammonia, a nitrogen-rich gas. Plumes of ammonia swell up in wave patterns to form bands tens of thousands of kilometers across. These bands are interspersed with vast cloudless regions, where dry air descends. “The overall dynamic picture [from before this study] is still correct, but now we see a lot of fine detail on that picture,” de Pater said.
