| Abstract |
The dynamical features of the surface atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, such as the stripe pattern and the associated alternating direction of the zonal jet winds, as well as the strong equatorial jet in the same direction as the rotation, have attracted the interest of many atmospheric science researchers. A number of concepts and simple descriptions based on geophysical fluid dynamics have been proposed to explain these features, and simulations of numerical models of planetary atmospheres have been performed to validate these descriptions. However, a satisfactory understanding of the dynamical picture and a definitive numerical atmospheric model that can explain these features consistently have not been obtained. In this talk, I will briefly review the atmospheric dynamics of Jovian planets, and will discuss the successes and shortcomings of recent high-resolution numerical simulations. |
