Current Events

  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

    x

    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.
  • Earth's Center Is 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Previously Thought, Synchrotron X-Ray Experiment Shows
    Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 ...Read more

    x

    Earth's Center Is 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Previously Thought, Synchrotron X-Ray Experiment Shows

    Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 degrees hotter than in a previous experiment run 20 years ago. These measurements confirm geophysical models that the temperature difference between the solid core and the mantle above, must be at least 1500 degrees to explain why the Earth has a magnetic field. For more information about this study, see the press release from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
  • Ocean Volcanic Rocks Contain Samples of Recycled Crust
    Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials fr...Read more

    x

    Ocean Volcanic Rocks Contain Samples of Recycled Crust

    Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials from the early Earth’s crust. But decisive evidence for this phenomenon has proven elusive. New research from a team including Carnegie’s Erik Hauri demonstrates that oceanic volcanic rocks contain samples of recycled crust dating back to the Archean era 2.5 billion years ago. Their work is published in Nature. Oceanic crust sinks into the Earth’s mantle at so-called subduction zones, where two plates come together. Much of what happens to the crust during this journey is unknown. Model-dependent studies for how long subducted material can exist in the mantle are uncertain and evidence of very old crust returning to Earth’s surface via upwellings of magma has not been found until now. For more information about these results, see the press release from the Carnegie Institution.
This is an image of Jupiter showing the various cloud shapes.
Click on image for full size
NASA

A Look at Jupiter's Clouds

Jupiter shows a pattern of clouds of white, brown, and orange. And then there is the Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot is the largest of the clouds of Jupiter. Other cloud shapes include eddy shapes, white ovals, brown ovals, and brown barges. The eddies and white ovals are outlined in this picture, when shown at full size.

These clouds form in stripes and move across the face of Jupiter. The stripes are similar to those found on all the giant planets.

There are three layers of clouds on Jupiter, and each one is composed of different molecules. At one level there are clouds of ammonia, at another level there are clouds made of ammonia and sulfur, and at a third level there are clouds of water (H2O).

Hazes of smog on Jupiter are to be found at very high altitudes above the clouds of Jupiter.


Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!

Our online store includes issues of NESTA's quarterly journal, The Earth Scientist, full of classroom activities on different topics in Earth and space science, as well as books on science education!

Windows to the Universe Community

News

Opportunities

You might also be interested in:

Eddys in the Jovian Atmosphere

This picture shows the Great Red Spot of Jupiter, in the center of the image. Swirling white clouds below, and to the right of the Great Red Spot, in this picture, are eddys. This image does not have...more

The White Ovals of Jupiter

Among the cloud shapes in the atmosphere of Jupiter are white ovals. White ovals are a collection of white clouds which are grouped together into an oval shape. They are found almost anywhere in the atmosphere...more

A Brown Barge in the Jovian Atmosphere

This is a picture of a brown barge. The accompanying clouds, next to the barge, look very similar to earth clouds. ...more

Jupiter's Cloud Decks

There are three different layer of clouds, or clouddecks, in Jupiter's atmosphere, as shown in this picture. The clouddecks are made of different molecules. The first clouddeck is made of ammonia clouds....more

White Oval Trains

Like sailboats in the ocean, the white ovals seem to drift eastward faster than the underlying current which carries other cloud formations in the South Temperate Zone (STZ). Since their birth , the ovals...more

Clouds

Clouds can come in all sizes and shapes, and can form near the ground or high in the atmosphere. Clouds are groups of tiny water droplets or ice crystals in the sky and are formed by different processes....more

Motions in Jupiter's Interior, part 2

Motions, or currents in the interior of a gas-giant planet such as Jupiter may be very different from the motions typical of the earth's interior. A second idea for the motions in the interior of a gas-giant...more

An Overview of Jupiter's Atmosphere

The king of planets is aptly named because it not only has the most dymanic atmospheric motion, but also the most riveting cloud patterns and storms, and the most majestic appearance of the giant planets....more

Shop Windows to the Universe

With Explore the Planets, investigate the planets, their moons, and understand the processes that shape them. By G. Jeffrey Taylor, Ph.D. See our DVD collection.

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation and NASA, our Founding Partners (the American Geophysical Union and American Geosciences Institute) as well as through Institutional, Contributing, and Affiliate Partners, individual memberships and generous donors. Thank you for your support! NASA AGU AGI NSF