title: Peering through Jupiter's clouds with radio spectral imaging.
abstract: Radio wavelengths can probe altitudes in Jupiter's atmosphere below its visible cloud layers. We used the Very Large Array to map this unexplored region down to ~8 bar, ~100 kilometers below the visible clouds. Our maps reveal a dynamically active planet at pressures less than 2 to 3 bar. A radio-hot belt exists, consisting of relatively transparent regions (a low ammonia concentration, NH3 being the dominant source of opacity) probing depths to over ~8 bar; these regions probably coincide with 5-micrometer hot spots. Just to the south we distinguish an equatorial wave, bringing up ammonia gas from Jupiter's deep atmosphere. This wave has been theorized to produce the 5-micrometer hot spots; we observed the predicted radio counterpart of such hot spots.
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy, 501 Campbell Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2629 HS Delft, Netherlands. SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, 3584 CA Utrecht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Imke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: de Pater
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Sault
authors.affiliation: National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM 87801, USA.
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy, 501 Campbell Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: DeBoer
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy, 501 Campbell Hall, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Michael H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Wong