Radiometers Measuring Ammonia?

Fig. 1. Juno MWR wavelength bands

Re: Implications of the ammonia distribution on Jupiter from 1 to 100 bars as measured by the Juno microwave radiometer, Andrew Ingersoll et al.

The Juno MWR (MicroWave Radiometer) experiment is a combination of six radiometers designed to detect infrared radiation at different wavelengths. Because longer wavelength radiation penetrates gases deeper, the radiometer channels are designed to see deeper into the assumed gas giant, Jupiter, as shown in Figure 1. As a result, all signals received by the instrument are currently being interpreted based on the gas giant assumption.

It is a well-known fact that, although the entire equatorial zone comprises a jet-stream super-rotating to the East, the north equatorial zone is clear of clouds and as a result more heat is radiating from it. In fact it is the band or ‘hot spot’ into which the Galileo atmospheric probe entered, which was used as an ‘excuse’ why the predicted three cloud layers were not found. See: The Galileo probe mission to Jupiter: Science overview, Young

All six of the MWR channels detect elevated heat radiation from the north equatorial zone every time Juno crosses it, but the MWR scientists are so locked into the ‘gas giant’ hypothesis, that they believe the radiation is coming from the whole range of depths shown in Figure 1. Worse yet, they have added another assumption, stated as follows:

“Variations in brightness temperature are interpreted as variations in ammonia rather than variations in physical temperature because otherwise the winds would be an order of magnitude larger than those observed. Thus, the MWR measures the distribution of ammonia below the weather layer.” ” At microwave frequencies, ammonia vapor is the main opacity source…”

This is a revival of the here-to-fore unsuccessful attempts to find ammonia on Jupiter, discussed in the above referenced paper (Young). Radiometers are passive instruments which measure heat radiation. They are not spectrometers, therefore cannot measure ammonia.

Fig. 2. MWR Ammonia distribution within Jupiter between 40 N and S Latitudes. (top). Average wind velocity (mid). Local deviations of wind velocity(bot).

A fact which is not addressed in this paper is that the notorious three cloud layers imagined in 1999, ammonia, ammonium hydrogen sulfide and water were not detected by the Galileo atmospheric probe which reached a depth of 22 bars (220 km), and therefore ammonia has never been measured on Jupiter. The compounding of the two bad assumptions has led to the ridiculous conclusion that the ammonia in Jupiter is all concentrated like a pancake at the equator down to a pressure of 240 bars in the gaseous interior of Jupiter, as shown in Figure 2. The top of this figure is an average of data collected on two science passes, between which the data did not change significantly. The six channels are thought to cover pressure levels of 240, 30, 9, 1.5 and 0.7 bars, with corresponding brightness temperature levels of 850, 460, 330, 250, 190 and 150.This structure is hypothesized to be a band of ammonia-rich air rising in the tropics and a band of ammonia-poor air sinking in the subtropics—a Hadley circulation. These two bands correspond to the northern half of the Equatorial Band from 0 to 5 degrees N Latitude and the North Equatorial Belt at 5 t0 20 degrees N Latitude. To explain this concentration of ammonia, it is imagined rise and freeze into snow and fall back to depth, but then somehow disappears. The authors admit that

“These early MWR data reveal unexpected features that are related to the dynamics of Jupiter’s atmosphere below the visible clouds. At present the MWR analysis only includes ammonia, and one does not yet know the water abundance, the winds, or the temperatures except down to 22 bars at the Galileo probe site. Our purpose here is to pose the questions raised by the early MWR data and offer a few possible answers in the hope of stimulating further work on the dynamics of Jupiter’s atmosphere.”

This conclusion was reached because the Juno MWR team could “find no way to explain a concentration of heat at the equator in a gaseous planet”. Fortunately, the data is safely stored and can be interpreted differently, consistent with other hypothesis which can be interpreted more realistically.

Fig. 3. Toroidal surface winds showing equatorial jet stream

Cyclic Catastrophism

As illustrated in Figure 3, a powerful vortex of hot gases rises rapidly from the fusion furnace in a depression at the center of the original impact basin about 700 km below the cloud tops. It is deflected westward beneath the visible cloud layer some 50,000 km by the rapid rotation (40,759 km/h) of Jupiter at 22º S Lat., reaching the cloud-tops as the Great Red Spot. Its counter-clockwise rotation is due to the Coriolis effect which is proportional to the velocity of the helium ions > 20,000 km/hr.
The fusion source, hidden below the surface clouds, generates 10³⁰ ³He⁺ ions per second powering the hot vortex producing the unique features of the Jupiter system. Due to its horizontal extent, the hot vortex induces vortical motion in the primary surface vortex (yellow), which in turn spawns surface vortices of opposite chirality to its north and south, constrained beneath by the solid MGH surface of the planet. Thus, the localized fusion ‘furnace’ drives the entire atmospheric circulation, spreading its heat over the surface, disguising its highly-localized presence.
The rising hot vortex, swept westward due to Jupiter’s rapid eastward rotation, combined with the counter-clockwise rotation of the Great Red Spot at the surface results in a tremendous wind shear where it collides with the main prograde superrotation or jetstream which dominates the equatorial zone The horizontal shear is evident in the great turbulence generated on the north side of the GRS. Heat which is transferred to the Jet Stream at that shear zone is carried completely around the planet. The rotation of the GRS at the surface, in the horizontal plane, produces the strongest retrograde wind (150 m/s) in the south equatorial belt (yellow) on its north and the prograde wind of the south tropical band as shown in Figure 8. Although the GRS is at 22ºS. Lat. the steady momentum/energy transfer and the weak Hadley circulation, result in the known surface equatorial super-rotation of Jupiter’s atmosphere.

The significance of the strong Coriolis effect is demonstrated by the wind and clouds moving eastward (prograde) in the southern equatorial zone which becomes vertical at the equator and combines with the centrifugal force of the rapidly rotating Jupiter, inducing a vertical motion of the atmosphere and clouds (Figures 3). This is also observed as a slight dip in the equatorial wind velocity at the equator. The reversal of the Coriolis effect at the equator interrupts the propagation of the vortical motion through the equatorial zone, disrupting the vortex pattern. This results in the equatorial zone winds moving to the east but the north equatorial zone 0 to 5 º N remaining clear of clouds, allowing radiation from deeper in the atmosphere to escape. North of the equatorial zone a mirror image of the southern hemisphere vortices is established, conserving angular momentum. The vortical motion of the ‘wind bands’, still not understood by Juno team, is the result of the solid MGH surface which acts as a boundary, explaining the high wind speeds measured by the Galileo atmospheric probe down to its maximum depth (22 bar, 156 km), which exceeds the predicted depths of the touted three cloud layers.