Weather
has
significant effects on the evolution of the surface and the
atmosphere on
Earth and it plays a similar role on other planets, too.
To date, most
gas giant atmospheric models have either been without any or
with a simplified
parameterization scheme for cloud microphysics, or they were
limited to
simulate more realistic clouds on a local scale. Such
models may
reproduce many features of the observed Jovian atmospheric
dynamics but they
lack the feedback from moist processes or the interaction with
the large scale
jets and vortices. These models cannot address problems
related to the
composition and abundance of clouds and they cannot provide
any information
about their vertical and horizontal distributions. Here I will
present results
from the latest 3D simulations of Jupiter's atmosphere. The
model employs a
complete hydrological cycle that includes interactive vapor,
cloud and
precipitation phases. This microphysics parameterization
can be extended
to multiple species or to other planets in our Solar System or
even to
exoplanets. The typical model configuration uses 45--50
non-uniformly spaced
vertical layers that include 10--15 layers at the expected
ammonia cloud levels
that allows us to investigate the vertical structure of Jovian
clouds in details.
Results indicate significant heterogeneity in the cloud
density values
both horizontally and vertically that is in good agreement
with observational
data. These simulations reproduce the deep clouds and
the cloud-free
regions in the vicinity of the Great Red Spot and the elevated
clouds over the
vortex that were observed by the Galileo Near Infrared Mapping
Spectrometer.
The limited role of secondary circulation in the formation of
clouds and the
correlation between the thermal structure and the distribution
of ammonia
clouds will also be discussed.