Angular Momentum in Planetary

Atmospheres
Buffalo Astronomical Association
May 8, 2009

Jude S. Sabato
Assistant Professor of Earth Science
Buffalo State College
Outline
1. Overview of planetary atmospheres
2. Angular momentum in rotating atmospheres
3. Earths Hadley Circulation and Jet Streams
4. Mars Hadley Circulation
5. Super-rotation on Venus and Titan
6. Jet formation on Jupiter
Outline
1. Overview of planetary atmospheres
2. Angular momentum in rotating atmospheres
3. Earths Hadley Circulation and Jet Streams
4. Mars Hadley Circulation
5. Super-rotation on Venus and Titan
6. Jet formation on Jupiter
Planetary Atmospheres
Atmospheres well talk about today
Earth
Mars
Venus
Titan (Saturns largest moon)
Jupiter
Planetary Atmospheres
Object Composition
(dry)
Condensibles Surface
Pressure
Surface
Temperature
Atmospheric
Dynamics
Venus 97% CO
2
3% N
2

SO
2

H
2
SO
4

90,000 mbar 750 K Super-rotating
Earth 78% N
2
21% O
2
1% Ar
H
2
O 1000 mbar 288 K Hadley Cells
Jet Streams
Monsoons
Mars 96% CO
2

2.5% N
2

1.5% Ar
CO
2
H
2
O (trace)
10 mbar 220 K Hadley Cells
Jet Streams
Dry Monsoons?
Jupiter 90% H
2

10% He
NH
3
H
5
NS
H
2
O?
No solid
surface
165 K (at 1000
mbar)
Multiple jets
Macroturbulence
Titan 100% N
2
CH
4
1500 mbar 95 K Global Hadley Cell
Super-rotation
Methane cycle
Outline
1. Overview of planetary atmospheres
2. Angular momentum in rotating atmospheres
3. Earths Hadley Circulation and Jet Streams
4. Mars Hadley Circulation
5. Super-rotation on Venus and Titan
6. Jet formation on Jupiter
Momentum
Momentum measures motion and mass:

momentum = mass x velocity
Momentum
Newtons First Law: An object at rest will
remain at rest and an object in motion will
move in a straight line at constant speed,
unless acted on by a force.

force = change in momentum
Momentum
Angular Momentum
Angular Momentum measures spinning
motion:

Angular Momentum = radius x mass x velocity
Angular Momentum
Newtons First Law (revisited): An object that is
not spinning will remain so and a spinning object
will continue spinning at constant speed and in
the same orientation, unless acted on by a
twisting force (torque).

torque = change in angular
momentum
Angular Momentum
Lets break down the atmosphere into symmetric and wavy
components
Atmospheric Angular Momentum
Jet Streams and Storms
Flow variable (Wind,
Temperature, Pressure,
etc.)
Symmetric part Wavy part
= +
Symmetric part
conserves its
angular
momentum
if there are no
waves
Take home points:
Atmospheric angular momentum is conserved
if
1. There are no torques on the atmosphere
2. There are no atmospheric waves
Atmospheric waves open the door to super-
rotation
angular momentum transfer associated with
atmospheric waves can generate E-W jets

Atmospheric Angular Momentum
Outline
1. Overview of planetary atmospheres
2. Angular momentum in rotating atmospheres
3. Earths Hadley Circulation and Jet Streams
4. Mars Hadley Circulation
5. Super-rotation on Venus and Titan
6. Jet formation on Jupiter
Earth
There are so many interesting dynamical
phenomena in Earths atmosphere!
Well focus on the Hadley Circulation and Jet
Streams
Hadley Cells Driven by low latitude convection
Hadley Cells approximately conserve angular
momentum
Angular momentum conservation means fluid
moves in rings around the planet not at all true!

Earth
Earth
Earth
Earth
Angular momentum conservation in the
Hadley Cell generates a subtropical Jet Stream
Subtropical jet is unstable and becomes wavy
These atmospheric waves (midlatitude storms)
can sometimes generate a second jet stream

Earth
Monsoons by angular momentum too!
After Bordoni and
Schneider 2008,
Nature Geoscience
Outline
1. Overview of planetary atmospheres
2. Angular momentum in rotating atmospheres
3. Earths Hadley Circulation and Jet Streams
4. Mars Hadley Circulation
5. Super-rotation on Venus and Titan
6. Jet formation on Jupiter
Mars
Mars has a Hadley Circulation too
Driven by convection
Much greater degree of angular momentum
conservation, however
Angular momentum conservation means fluid moves in
rings around the planet probably not true for Mars
either
Jet stream is unstable and becomes wavy (still true for
Mars)
Atmospheric waves (midlatitude storms) do not generate a
second jet because the planet is too small
Topography/surface heating can force waves that move the
atmospheric angular momentum from place to place
Mars
Mars

Mars topography/surface thermal inertia may
have an elevated heat island effect

Elevated heat island drives Indian Monsoon
(maybe, or better partially)

Is there a dry monsoon on Mars?

One way or another the atmosphere is not
moving in rings (transport properties are not
axisymmetric)
Outline
1. Overview of planetary atmospheres
2. Angular momentum in rotating atmospheres
3. Earths Hadley Circulation and Jet Streams
4. Mars Hadley Circulation
5. Super-rotation on Venus and Titan
6. Jet formation on Jupiter
Venus
Venus in the ultraviolet
Venus
Venus atmosphere appears to be super-
rotating

Super-rotation: winds aloft at the equator are
faster than the planets rotation

This is akin to stirring a cup of coffee and
observing that the coffee is circulating faster
than your spoon!
Titan
Titan in the infrared
Titan

Titan has a global Hadley Cell

Titans upper atmosphere is in a state of
super-rotation, like Venus

Titan
George Hadleys original idea to explain the trade winds (1735)
Titan
CH
4
on Titan behaves very much like water on
Earth (methanological cycle)

Links between seasonal and methanological
cycle could drive angular momentum changes
in the atmosphere and the solid surface
Titan
False color RADAR image
Recent observations show a
slight change in Titans spin
rate

This could be evidence of a
liquid water ocean between
the solid interior and icy
surface.

Whats the culprit? It could be
angular momentum
transfer between the
surface and the
atmosphere.


The fly-wheel crust of Titan?
So what about super-rotation
Any East-West asymmetries could be responsible
On Titan: ???
On Venus:
moving candle = Venus is rotating very slowly; the Sun
heats one side for quite a while; radiative cooling on the
other side
Atmospheric waves, from wind over mountains, propagate
upward and deposit momentum in the upper atmosphere
Theyre both slow-rotators ---- easy to get super-
rotation in a model with slow rotation
Bottom line: we know what kinds of mechanisms can
generate super-rotation but we dont know which of
these, if any, are operating in which atmosphere
Outline
1. Overview of planetary atmospheres
2. Angular momentum in rotating atmospheres
3. Earths Hadley Circulation and Jet Streams
4. Mars Hadley Circulation
5. Super-rotation on Venus and Titan
6. Jet formation on Jupiter
Jupiter
Multiple Jets and macroturbulence
Jupiter
Jet Formation
Stirring
wave
breaking
wave
breaking
E-W Wind
Angular momentum
divergence
Angular momentum
divergence
Angular momentum convergence
Jet Formation
Jupiter
Jets form by stirring at small scales, exciting waves and
transporting angular momentum across latitude circles.
Stirring is thought to be by thunderstorms

Equatorial super-rotation requires atmospheric waves to travel across
the equator

Why so many jets? That is, what determines the jet width?
size of the planet
speed of the wind
rotation rate of the planet


Rhines Length:

Summary
Angular momentum is a unifying concept in
atmospheric dynamics.
Earth
Earths Hadley Cell is approximately angular
momentum conserving (sometimes, sort of)
Angular momentum conserving theories accurately
predict width of the cells and the existence of a jet
stream
Monsoons may be a result of dynamical regime shifts
between nearly (symmetric) angular momentum
conserving flow to wave driven flow
Summary
Angular momentum is a unifying concept in
atmospheric dynamics.
Mars
Mars Hadley Cell is much more angular momentum
conserving than Earths but is still not rings of fluid
Angular momentum conserving theories accurately
predict width of the cells on Mars as well
A type of dry Monsoons may be driving non-
axisymmetric transport of H
2
O, CO
2
and dust
Summary
Angular momentum is a unifying concept in
atmospheric dynamics.
Venus and Titan
Super-rotation in both atmospheres
Several mechanisms are possible causes but none are
certain (and may be different for each atmosphere)
Titans atmosphere may be exchanging significant
angular momentum with the surface, causing spin
rate changes
Summary
Angular momentum is a unifying concept in
atmospheric dynamics.
Jupiter
Multiple jets and macroturbulence
Equatorial super-rotation as well
Angular momentum transport can form jets, while
a planets size, rotation rate and atmospheric wind
speeds determine their width/number
THANK YOU!