Formation mechanisms for the vortex crystals at Jupiter's poles

In the atmospheres of most solar-system planets, `polar vortices' are isolated single storms centred over or near the poles. By contrast, Jupiter's polar vortices have an unprecedented structure, as discovered by NASA's Juno probe, having a single storm over each pole surrounded by several other storms in crystalline patterns. These crystalline structures were not predicted prior to being observed, and the factors that determine their formation and evolution remain poorly understood. One idea is that moist convection (due to latent heat release from water condensation) produces small vortices in the polar regions, with the cyclones then migrating polewards to form the polar vortices. But existing models including these processes find random fields of chaotically-moving vortices in Jupiter's polar regions, rather than the orderly vortex crystals that are observed. The aim of this project is to determine how different processes contribute to transforming Jupiter's poles from a sea of chaotic vortices to the crystalline order of the observed polar vortices, and to better understand the properties of Jupiter that make its polar cyclones unique within the solar system. We will do this using a combination of different computational models of Jupiter's atmosphere, with developments in these models having potential impacts on the next generation of weather and climate models used by the Met Office.