NASA Interpretations of Juno Data, Dec. 2018
A summary of the featured talk on Juno’s latest (lack of) results at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union by David J. Stevenson:
Fig. 1. Unique disk-shaped magnetic field gererated by circling helions
“Gravity field, magnetic field and microwave brightness temperatures are three key global observations by the Juno spacecraft that inform us about what lies beneath the clouds, all the way to the center of Jupiter. Gravity … has indicated that Jupiter has an increasing concentration of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium towards the center, but not localized as in old ideas of a central core, telling us about the formation and evolution of the planet. Gravity has also told us that the winds we see in the atmosphere extend down several thousand kilometers, neither shallow in the sense of being confined to the weather layer, nor deep in the sense of extending significantly into the metallic hydrogen region. But remarkably, the pattern of the winds in the atmosphere is largely preserved at depth, an important constraint on dynamical theories for their origin. The magnetic field is incompletely mapped but already shows some striking features that have no counterpart in any other planet thus far: localized regions of high flux and a marked hemispheric difference in field structure north and south. The microwave observations show that the ammonia is non-uniformly distributed to hundreds of kilometers below the ammonia or presumed water clouds, a surprising result with implications for the nature of convective processes and the water abundance. These results challenge us to connect these three pieces: inferences on the depth of the winds may impact our interpretation of the magnetic field since meter/sec winds interact with the field in regions outward from the dynamo, and implications for water abundance from the microwaves may influence our interpretations of how the planet formed. Success of the Juno mission is measured in many ways, including instrument performance, but it is reinforced by the ways in which the results have surprised and challenged us.”
Cyclic Catastrophism (bold below)
Many posts on this site can be accessed through the search window, (i.e. select Jupiter or Juno) but the salient fact are recounted here.
A. The gas giant hypothesis on which all current research is conducted, is the primary problem since gas giants form at <50 K..
B. The gravity data is showing that Jupiter has an “increasing concentration of elements down several thousand kilometers, neither shallow … nor deep. but not localized as in old ideas of a central core.”
This is because the Methane Gas Hydrate structure is low density and rigid.
C “Gravity is also telling us that the winds we see in the atmosphere extend down to several thousand kilometers, neither shallow in the sense of being confined to the weather layer, nor deep in the sense of extending significantly into the metallic hydrogen region. But remarkably, the pattern of the winds in the atmosphere is largely preserved at depth, an important constraint on dynamical theories for their origin.”
The fundamental problem here is more profound. It is the assumption that the magnetic field, the dynamo, is generated in the interior, which is not possible if the planet is solid. Cyclic Catastrophism proposes that a fusion reaction p + d ⇒ 3He++ + 4.98 MeV, left over from a recent 6,000-year old impact, of closely bound protons and deuterium in the methane gas hydrate, are producing 1030 invisible, doubly-charged helions per second which exit the atmosphere through the Great Red Spot, and given the angular momentum of the fast spinning planet, orbit prograde at 1.08 RJ, producing an appropriately shaped powerful magnetosphere and the external magnetic field (Figure 1.). This stream of ions is currently interpreted as the inner radiation belt and is avoided, not the least because, the JEDI ion instrument cannot measure the flight time of the helions thru the 6-cm instrument.
The reason that the “pattern of the winds in the atmosphere is largely preserved at depth” is because the heat of the fusion reaction is releasing the full abundance of heavy elements in the clathrate MGH which combine to form high temperature compounds, such as CS. These crystallize as they rise and cool in the GRS vortex and flow out into the upper atmosphere as particulate aersols, causing the colored clouds we observe, but which Juno instruments cannot identify, so they are currently imagined to be ammonia ice. These heavy particles have been falling to the surface and accumulating beneath the clouds since ~ 1935, accumulating on the solid surface, producing the broader gravitational signals interpreted as due to the wind “at depth”.
Fig. 2. (a) ‘Striking’ upward magnetic features in Jupiter northern hemisphere (b) less complex downward field in southern hemisphere. .
D. The “striking features in the magnetic field” are due to swirling of some of the helions flowing toward the north pole which, because they have much farther to go from the GRS at 22 degrees South Latitude, are deflected by the turbulence of the clouds in the northern hemisphere.
E. The microwave observations (MWR) are currently interpreted based on the gas giant hypothesis. Thus, the longer wavelengths are
Fig. 3 MWR misinterpretation of surface heat as ammonia deep in planet due to lower frequency IR
assumed to originate from deeper in the planet. However, radiometers measure only heat, not ammonia. In the solid methane gas hydrate hypothesis, the solid surface of Jupiter confines the circulation of a jet stream heated by the fusion reaction above the surface of the planet, which lies 700-800 km below the cloud tops. But the IR data is still interpreted as if the longer wavelengths are coming from ammonia clouds deeper in the planet. (Figure 3.).
Fig. 4. Toroidal surface winds showing eastward equatorial jet stream bordered on the north by the Coriolis force becoming vertical at the equator.
Fig. 5. IR, Vis. MWR showing location of MWR ‘ammonia signal’ in clear North Equatorial Belt and raised clouds just south of it at the equator in middle image
F. The multiple zonal wind bands are actually horizontal Coriolis vortices (zones) constrained below by the solid surface of the planet. The primary vortex, driven by the fusion, spawns adjacent bands spinning in opposite senses where they come in contact (belts). The significance of Coriolis is demonstrated by the cloudless north equatorial belt (Figure 5 left image), which lacks any circulating vortex because the Coriolis effect becomes vertical at the equator, preventing the spawning of a cloud vortex from the south, where the energy source (GRS) is. The radiation coming up through this gap in the clouds, currently interpreted as a signal associated with ammonia, is from the hot primary vortex (yellow in Figure 4) which travels north beneath the clouds and is reflected upward by the clouds north of the gap, as shown in Figure 5 right image. The raised clouds along the equator, are visible along the equator in the middle, visible light images (Figure 4.) and are also indicated by a lower measured velocity dip (shown elsewhere) along the equator.