Large Scale Geostrophic Winds with a Full Representation of the Coriolis Force: Application to IR Observations of the Upper Jovian Troposphere

The diagnostics of large scale geostrophy in a stratified atmosphere are revisited in pressure coordinates using a full Coriolis force. This formulation of geostrophy includes the horizontal and vertical projections of the planetary rotation vector, is valid for shallow and deep atmospheres, accounts for the spherical geometry of the atmosphere, is not singular at the equator, and provides partial information about vertical velocities. The new expressions, although an improvement over the standard approach, are still only estimates because of the terms that are being neglected and because of the uncertainties in the observational data. The magnitudes of the errors are discussed. The accuracy of the standard hydrostatic approximation in the geostrophic regime is gauged and an alternative approach is discussed. The standard hydrostatic approximation predicts much smaller wind shears than those derived from the primitive equations. The observations are a set of global temperature maps of the upper Jovian troposphere at pressures, between 100 and 400 mbar, obtained from mid-infrared observations in June, 1996. Maps of the large-scale thermal winds show higher concentration of longitudinal structures and vertical velocities along two particular zonal bands at latitudes near 15°N and 15°S. Observational criteria are proposed to validate the standard versus the new diagnostic as well as the possible geostrophic regime of Jupiter's zonal jets.