Spatial Variations of Jovian Tropospheric Ammonia via Ground-Based Imaging

Abstract

Current understanding of the ammonia distribution in Jupiter's atmosphere is provided by observations from major ground-based facilities and spacecraft, and analyzed with sophisticated retrieval models that recover high fidelity information, but are limited in spatial and temporal coverage. Here we show that the ammonia abundance in Jupiter's upper troposphere, which tracks the overturning atmospheric circulation, can be simply, but reliably determined from continuum-divided ammonia and methane absorption-band images made with a moderate-sized Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT). In 2020–2021, Jupiter was imaged in the 647-nm ammonia absorption band and adjacent continuum bands with a 0.28-m SCT, demonstrating that the spatially resolved ammonia optical depth could be determined with such a telescope. In 2022–2023, a 619 nm methane-band filter was added to provide a constant reference against which to correct the ammonia abundances (column-averaged mole fraction) for cloud opacity variations. These 0.28-m SCT results are compared with observations from: (a) the MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (b) the TEXES mid-infrared spectrometer used on NASA's InfraRed Telescope Facility; and (c) the Gemini telescopes, and are shown to provide reliable maps of ammonia abundance. Meridional and longitudinal features are examined, including the Equatorial Zone (EZ) ammonia enhancement, the North Equatorial Belt depletion, depletion above the Great Red Spot, and longitudinal enhancements in the northern EZ. This work demonstrates meaningful ammonia monitoring can be achieved with small telescopes that can complement spacecraft and major ground-based facility observations.