Jupiter's Climate Variability During the Juno Mission

University of Leicester planetary scientists are part of a worldwide campaign of Earth-based supporting observations throughout the Juno mission. Global infrared spectroscopic maps will be acquired at regular intervals using instruments mounted on NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) in Hawaii and ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, among others. These infrared spectra are the end product of light propagating through Jupiter's soup of atmospheric constituents (radiative transfer), so that the final spectrum can be used to directly measure atmospheric temperature, composition and cloud opacity via a technique called spectral inversion (or retrieval). Spectral modelling and inversion are common tools used throughout the fields of geophysics and astrophysics (including Earth observation and exoplanetary characterisation), ultimately providing the candidate with a tool kit of broad utility.

The resulting maps of temperature, wind, humidity, composition and clouds will reveal the meteorological conditions associated with phenomena observed by both Juno and the amateur astronomy community, such as the Great Red Spot, polar vortices, auroral hotspots and discrete wave activity. IRTF and VLT data from 2009-2015 are already available for this project, allowing the candidate to begin analysis immediately to understand the climate context at the start of the Juno mission. Depending on the types of discoveries revealed within these old and forthcoming datasets, the candidate would be free to choose to focus on dynamical studies of discrete features; the chemistry of the upper atmosphere; the physics of cloud formation; the meteorological forces powering belt/zone upheavals; or any other physical mechanism of relevance to planetary atmospheres. The same techniques will also be used to support Cassini's final orbits of Saturn through to the end of its mission in 2017, permitting a direct comparison of the physicochemical processes shaping these two giant planets.