AOPP Seminar - Jupiter Below the Clouds: Active, Stable & Still Mysterious

Abstract - The largest planet of our solar system is known for its active, turbulent atmosphere, governed by strong zonal winds, evolving vortices and powerful storms. Numerous signs of convective activity, added to the large intrinsic luminosity (more than 10,000 times larger than the Earth's), led to the paradigm of a mostly convective and largely well-mixed planet. While this picture remains in part true, new observations, in particular from the Juno spacecraft in orbit around the planet since 2016, have led to considerable changes in our vision of Jupiter: Evidence of imperfect mixing and non-zero static stability have arisen both in the deep atmosphere and interior. We know that Jupiter's zonal winds extend deep, to about 3000 km, but we cannot yet fully account for their braking by the interior magnetic field. The interior temperature profile deep temperature gradient is not well understood. I will review these changes and how they affect our understanding of the evolution and structure of giant planets in general.