3D balanced winds and dynamics in Jupiter's atmosphere from combined imaging and infrared observations

A series of analyses combining feature-tracking from visible images and infrared sounding observations obtained by Voyager I and 2 are presented for the region surrounding Jupiter's Great Red Spot. By making use of various dynamical balance constraints, fully three-dimensional maps of a number of meteorological variables (such as horizontal wind, isobaric geopotential height and vertical velocity) can be recovered. Such maps are of immense potential value in a variety of studies of atmospheres such as those of the outer planets, and some possible extensions of this approach to ongoing and future spacecraft missions are discussed. (c) 2005 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.