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Atmospheric gravity waves from the impact of comet Shoemaker‐Levy 9 with Jupiter
Author(s) -
Ingersoll A. P.,
Kanamori H.,
Dowling T. E.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/94gl01057
Subject(s) - jovian , comet , jupiter (rocket family) , physics , bar (unit) , amplitude , gravity wave , thermal , atmospheric sciences , astronomy , astrobiology , gravitational wave , planet , meteorology , optics , saturn , space shuttle
We study the effect of the Jovian water cloud on internal gravity waves generated by the impact of comet SL9. Vertical structure follows Voyager data to the 1‐bar level, a moist adiabat from 1 to 5 bars, and a dry adiabat below the 5‐bar level. The waves are trapped in the moist layer and propagate horizontally. Their speed is related to the vertical integral of the Brunt‐Väisälä frequency, and varies as the square root of the water abundance (130 m/s for solar composition). The amplitudes are large, e.g., ±1 K at a distance of 8000 km for an energy of 10 27 ergs. The circular ripples should be detectable one or two days after the impact in thermal infrared and visible images.