New Data Shows Ammonia Swirls Exist In Large Quantities Beneath The Clouds Of Jupiter

Jupiter's Great Red Spot and other surface features that extend 30 to 100 kilometers below the enigmatic surface has been revealed to have patterns of swirling ammonia, suggesting that the stormy weather captured by the 1979 Voyager encounter was due to the swirls located just beneath the clouds.

To get a more in-depth study of the planet, Space.com noted that researchers started building a new map to observe the different radiowaves emitted by Jupiter's atmosphere over time. With visible-light telescopes that can get the images back to the surface quickly, the VLA radio telescope, and other upgraded features, the images can be combined with the Hubble Space Telescope's visible views of the planet to show a better view of its environment.

Beneath Jupiter's colorful bands, giant spots and swirling clouds lay giant waves of ammonia >> https://t.co/6vef0VKQMK

— Discovery (@Discovery) June 2, 2016

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said that the ammonia discovered by the Galileo probe in 1995 was found in large amounts on the planet - but new data revealed that there was more of it than expected, as radio waves emitted by the large body was shown to have been absorbed by ammonia, which they used to calculate the amount present in different parts of the atmosphere.

The recent map showed hotspots that appear bright in radio and thermal images, while the ammonia-poor regions encircle the planet like a belt just north of the equator. Also beneath the hotspots are ammonia-rich upwellings that bring the ammonia from the deeper part of the planet.

NASA's Juno spacecraft, which will begin orbiting Jupiter next month, will look into the makeup of the planet in a mission that will hopefully give insight on Jupiter's origin and evolution. Scott Bolton, the chief investigator for the aircraft told The Guardian, "The point of Juno is we go there with telescopes like the VLA, but [measuring] longer wavelengths."

He also shared that the technique will allow scientists to look deeper into the planet's atmosphere, adding, "I expect that when Juno gets there we will see lots of things associated with the dynamics of the deep atmosphere - much deeper that [this], and much higher resolution."