[P-PS01] Outer Solar System Exploration Today, and Tomorrow

[PPS01-01] Jupiter's Colorful and Dynamic Atmosphere: Searching for a New Cloud Model Paradigm

★Invited Papers

*Emma Dahl¹, Glenn Orton¹, Nancy Chanover², Kevin Baines^1,3 (1.NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 2.New Mexico State University, 3.University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Keywords:Jupiter, Atmosphere, Chromophore, Clouds

The striking colors and patterns of Jupiter's atmosphere are the result of the interactions of complex dynamical and photochemical processes. Characterizing the color and structure of Jupiter's clouds is the vital first step to understanding the deeper mechanisms and bulk planetary characteristics that directly affect the evolution and appearance of the cloud tops. New bodies of work have sought to converge on a modern cloud model paradigm, but both the variability of Jupiter's clouds and the nature of the datasets used to derive these models keep the solution elusive. In this talk I provide an overview of contemporary studies of Jupiter's cloud structure and color in the optical wavelength regime, with a focus on our work at New Mexico State University and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory using near-infrared datasets and optical hyperspectral image cubes. I include new results on changes undergone by Jupiter's clouds during major weather events such as the recent Equatorial Zone disturbance and discuss how these studies provide important context for not only the Jovian system as a whole, but for other gas giant atmospheres in the Solar System.