Heat-source type atmospheric nonlinear flow patterns in zonal cloud bands

Abstract

We present a family of exact solutions to a set of recently derived nonlinear equations governing at leading order the dynamics of flows in zonal cloud bands that resemble those on Jupiter. These solutions are radial in the horizontal variables, present density and temperature that decrease with height, a pressure function that decreases in the radial direction, and allow heat flowing out into the environment: these are features that are also observed in the Jupiter's Red Spot. Using a WKB analysis we show that certain exact solutions are stable under a specific choice of the density distribution.