Jupiter: A study of atmospheric composition, structure, and dynamics using microwave techniques

Abstract

The objective of this research has been to advance the understanding of Jupiter's atmospheric composition, structure and dynamics using microwave techniques. Accurate retrievals of atmospheric parameters in Jupiter’s atmosphere requires accurate models. This work includes laboratory measurements which have been used to refine previously-existing models for the microwave opacity of gaseous ammonia and water vapor. Additionally, this work involves integration of these new models, plus four additional models (derived as part of this work), into an existing forward model for emission from the jovian atmosphere. The four models derived in this work are: (1) The effects of virga on the microwave emission spectrum of Jupiter, (2) The effects of a potential radiatve zone deep in Jupiter's atmosphere, (3) The effect of possible ionized alkali metals in the deep atmosphere on the jovian microwave emission, and (4) auroral effects on the jovian microwave emission. These models were then used to perform retrievals of atmospheric parameters using measurements taken by the Juno MWR. The retrieval utilizes a neural network as a surrogate to the forward model. This surrogate is able to quickly and accurately predict results from the forward model. The surrogate is then paired with the L-BFGS-B minimization algorithm and results in a two part retrieval. The first part retrieves the deep abundance of ammonia and water vapor at a place most resembling an ideal adiabat. The second uses these retrieved values to produce an ammonia distribution map.