7530(  1) - 12/14/96 00:36  - [  0]

    PROPOSAL FOR HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS   ST ScI Use Only
                                                       ID:      7530
                                                       Version: 1
                                                       Check-in Date: 13-Dec-1996
                                                                      18:16:55

1.Proposal Title:
Jovian Planetary Waves
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2. Scientific Category   3. Proposal For  4. Cycle
SOLAR SYSTEM                AR               7
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5. Investigators
                                                                                     Contact?
    PI: Dr.\ Joseph Harrington            NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/National
                                          Research Council
   CoI: Dr.\ Drake Deming                 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center              N

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6. Abstract

The detection of slowly-moving, wave-like features in infrared (IR) observations of
Jupiter (by us and others) has generated excitement. If these features are Rossby
waves, they may probe the atmosphere down to the boundary with the planetary
interior. Rossby waves cause zonal flows to oscillate about their characteristic
latitude. We will search for such undulations in all available HST images of
Jupiter's atmosphere, applying the automated searching techniques already successful
in our infrared work. The amplitude of meridional oscillations would be ~ 2,000 km,
or ~ 0\decarcsec6 as seen from Earth. Detecting oscillations consistent with the
wavenumbers and phases seen in IR data will establish that these features are indeed
Rossby waves. Wave speeds, dispersion relations, longevity, vertical extent, and
population statistics will all constrain models of planetary atmospheres, which have
direct application to terrestrial meteorology. If, as we suspect, the waves have a
large vertical extent, they may reflect the boundary conditions between the
troposphere and planetary interior. Planetary interior modeling predicts convection
organized into ``banana- cells'', which extend from pole to pole but are constrained
in longitude. The number of cells strongly constrains the convection and is of
interest to interior modelers. Detecting similar waves in both visible and IR data
that maintain speed and wavenumber over a large range of latitudes would constitute
a major step forward in measuring the conditions in the planetary interior.
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                                                7530(  1) - 12/14/96 00:36  - [  1]

            Summary Form for Proposal  7530

  Item                         Used in this proposal
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  Proposal Category            AR
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  Scientific Category          SOLAR SYSTEM
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