Storms and the Depletion of Ammonia in Jupiter: I. Microphysics of
“Mushballs’
Abstract
Microwave observations by the Juno spacecraft have shown that, contrary
to expectations, the concentration of ammonia is still variable down to
pressures of tens of bars in Jupiter. We show that during strong storms
able to loft water ice into a region located at pressures between 1.1
and 1.5 bar and temperatures between 173K and 188K, ammonia vapor can
dissolve into water ice to form a low-temperature liquid phase
containing about 1/3 ammonia and 2/3 water. We estimate that, following
the process creating hailstorms on Earth, this liquid phase enhances the
growth of hail-like particles that we call ‘mushballs’. We develop a
simple model to estimate the growth of these mushballs, their fall into
Jupiter’s deep atmosphere and their evaporation. We show that they
evaporate deeper than the expected water cloud base level, between 7 and
25 bar depending on the assumed abundance of water ice lofted by
thunderstorms and on the assumed ventilation coefficient governing heat
transport between the atmosphere and the mushball. Because the ammonia
is located mostly in the core of the mushballs, it tends to be delivered
deeper than water, increasing the efficiency of the process. Further
sinking of the condensates is expected due to cold temperature and
ammonia- and water-rich downdrafts formed by the evaporation of
mushballs. This process can thus potentially account for the
measurements of ammonia depletion in Jupiter’s deep atmosphere.