7 upvotes, 3 direct replies (showing 3)
View submission: Jupiter NTZ Outbreak
What's an ntz outbreak?
Comment by ct2904 at 26/01/2025 at 08:55 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I’d guess Northern Tropical Zone or Northern Temperate Zone … but that’s purely from Google!
Comment by i_abh_esc_wq at 26/01/2025 at 09:12 UTC
4 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Comment by Astromike23 at 26/01/2025 at 18:02 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Meanwhile, the "outbreak" part means a big convective plume event, usually starting from deep in the water cloud region and pushing up through the top of the upper ammonia cloud. That's the little bright white dot we see in the 20/1/2025 image, just above the thick brown cloud belt and somewhat to the left. In the 25/1/2025 image it's moved to the right, and the whole feature has expanded east-west in the zonal winds, much like a developing anvil cloud on Earth.
It's one of the primary ways the lower atmosphere of Jupiter injects energy into the upper atmosphere. We see a similar outbreak event on Saturn[1] (though much larger) every 30 years or so. Jupiter's outbreaks tend to be more frequent all over the planet, but each event is less energetic.
