Renewed acceleration of the 24[degrees] N jet on Jupiter

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2006.05.007 Byline: John H. Rogers, Hans-Jorg Mettig, Damian Peach Keywords: Jupiter; atmosphere; Saturn; atmosphere; Atmospheres; dynamics Abstract: Jupiter's eastward jet at 24[degrees] N, which formerly had the fastest winds on the planet, has maintained a less extreme speed of [approximately equal to]135 m/s since 1991, carrying a series of long-lived vortices at 125 m/s. In 2002-2003, as the albedo of the adjacent North Temperate Belt increased, the tracks of the vortices accelerated slightly, and they had disappeared by 2005. In 2005, small tracers had a mean speed of 146.4 ([+ or -]0.9) m/s, significantly faster than the previous mean speed of the jet, suggesting that the jet peak itself has accelerated at cloud-top level, and that the jet is beginning to return to the super-fast state. These changes may resemble the even greater transformations occurring in the equatorial jet of Saturn. Author Affiliation: British Astronomical Association, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J ODU, UK Article History: Received 26 November 2005; Revised 24 April 2006