Equatorial Zonal Jets and Jupiter’s Gravity

Abstract

The depth of penetration of Jupiter’s zonal winds into the planet’s interior is unknown. A possible way to determine the depth is to measure the effects of the winds on the planet’s high-order zonal gravitational coefficients, a task to be undertaken by the Juno spacecraft. It is shown here that the equatorial winds alone largely determine these coefficients which are nearly independent of the depth of the non-equatorial winds.