Long-term evolution of the aerosol debris cloud produced by the 2009 impact on jupiter

A. Sánchez-Lavega (1) , G.S. Orton (2) , R. Hueso (1) , S. Pérez-Hoyos (1) , L.N. Fletcher , E. Garci'A-Melendo (2) , J.M. Gomez-Forrellad (2) , I. de Pater (3) , M. Wong (2) , H.B. Hammel (4) , P. Yanamandra-Fisher , A. Simon-Miller (5) , N. Barrado-Izagirre (6) , F. Marchis (2, 7) , O. Mousis (8) , J. L. Ortiz (9) , J. Garci'A-Rojas (10) , M. Cecconi , J.T. Clarke (11) , K. Noll (4, 12) , S. Pedraz (13) , A. Wesley (14) , P. Kalas (3) , N. Mcconnell (3) , W. Golisch (15) , D. Griep (2) , P. Sears (2) , E. Volquardsen (2) , V. Reddy (16) , M. Shara (17) , R. Binzel , W. Grundy (18) , J. Emery , A. Rivkin , C. Thomas (19) , D. Trilling (2) , K. Bjorkman (19) , A.J. Burgasser (20) , H. Campins (21) , T.M. Sato (22) , Y. Kasaba (22) , J. Ziffer (23) , R. Mirzoyan (24) , M. Fitzgerald (25) , H. Bouy (12)

1 Departamento de Fı'sica Aplicada I
2 Fundació Privada Observatori Esteve Duran
3 Department of Astronomy [Berkeley]
4 SSI - Space Science Institute [Boulder]
5 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
6 Departamento de Matemática Aplicada
7 Carl Sagan Center
8 UTINAM - Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules (UMR 6213)
9 IAA - Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
10 IAC - Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias
11 BU - Boston University [Boston]
12 CAB - Centro de Astrobiologia [Madrid]
13 CAHA - Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán, Observatorio de Calar Alto
14 Acquerra Pty. Ltd.
15 University of Hawaii
16 UND Department of Space Studies
17 Department of Astrophysics [New York]
18 Lowell Observatory [Flagstaff]
19 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Toledo]
20 Dept. of Physics
21 Dept. of Physics
22 Tohoku University [Sendai]
23 Univ. Southern Maine
24 Glendale Community College
25 IGPP - Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics [Livermore]

► We present a study of the long-term evolution of the cloud of aerosols produced in the atmosphere of Jupiter by the impact of an object on 19 July 2009. ► The impact cloud expanded zonally from ∼5000 km to 225,000 km (29 October), remaining meridionally localized within a latitude band from 53.5S to 61.5S planetographic latitude. ► We find that the westward jet at 56.5S latitude increases its eastward velocity with altitude with vertical wind shear of 1 ms per scale height above the tropopause. ► A pure advection of the aerosols by the winds and their shears and a nonlinear simulation (EPIC code) of the evolution of the potential vorticity field generated by a heat pulse, reproduce the observed global structure of the cloud, its optical depth decrease, and the dominant zonal dispersion of the aerosols.

Mots clés: Atmospheres; dynamics; Jupiter; atmosphere; Impact processes

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

A. Sánchez-Lavega, G.S. Orton, R. Hueso, S. Pérez-Hoyos, L.N. Fletcher, et al.. Long-term evolution of the aerosol debris cloud produced by the 2009 impact on jupiter. Icarus, 2011, 214 (2), pp.462. ⟨10.1016/j.icarus.2011.03.015⟩. ⟨hal-00786868⟩