Atmosphere Ocean Science Colloquium
The dynamics of Jupiter: insights from ten years of Juno in orbit
Speaker: Yohai Kaspi, Weizmann Institute
Location: Warren Weaver Hall 1302
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2026, 3:30 p.m.
Synopsis:
Jupiter provides an extraordinary natural laboratory for geophysical fluid dynamics, in which large-scale jets, vortices, convection, and deep circulation can be studied under conditions different from those on Earth. Over the past decade, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has provided an unprecedented view of this system through measurements from multiple instruments probing the atmosphere, gravity field, magnetic field, and thermal emission. In this talk, I will review how these measurements revolutionized the way we understand Jupiter, and revealed the depth and three-dimensional structure of Jupiter’s powerful zonal flows, shed new light on the dynamics of equatorial superrotation and convective columns, exposed a midlatitude circulation containing multiple Ferrel-like cells, and uncovered the remarkable organization of the polar cyclones. Beyond Jupiter itself, this emerging picture provides a valuable comparative framework for understanding fundamental processes in rotating atmospheres, including those that shape circulation on Earth.