OBSERVATIONS OF THE BANDED ZONAL WINDS AND GLOBAL MAGNETIC FIELDS ON JUPITER AND SATURN BEG THE QUESTION OF WHAT TYPES OF FLUID FLOWS AND MAGNETIC FIELDS EXIST WELL BELOW THEIR SURFACES AND HOW ARE THEY MAINTAINED. IN 2016 NASA'S JUNO MISSION AND CASSINI-HUYGENS SOLSTICE MISSION WILL BEGIN PROVIDING HIGH FIDELITY GRAVITY AND MAGNETIC FIELD MEASUREMENTS OF JUPITER AND SATURN RESPECTIVELY THATWILL HELP TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION. IN THE MEAN TIME WE PROPOSE TO BUILD UPON OUR PREVIOUS COMPUTER SIMULATIONS OF THE INTERNAL DYNAMICS OF GIANT PLANETS BY IMPROVING THE PHYSICS AND EFFICIENCY OF OUR COMPUTER MODEL AND USING IT TO PRODUCE MORE REALISTIC SIMULATIONS OF THE TURBULENT CONVECTION AND MAGNETIC FIELD GENERATION IN INTERIORS OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM GAS GIANTS. OUR COMPUTER CODE SOLVES THE SET OF EQUATIONS THAT DESCRIBES THE PHYSICS OF THIS PROBLEM AND IS RUN ON SUPERCOMPUTERS TO EVOLVE THE MODEL IN THREEDIMENSIONS AND TIME. IN DOING SO THIS COMPUTER MODELING RESEARCH WILL PRODUCE A SET OF PREDICTIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS FOR WHAT THE JUNO AND CASSINI-HUYGENS SOLSTICE MISSIONS WILL START MEASURING FOUR YEARS FROM NOW IN THEIR CLOSE-IN ORBITS AROUND JUPITER AND SATURN. THIS COMBINATION OF THEORY AND OBSERVATIONS WILL ANSWER SOME LONG-STANDING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE WINDS AND MAGNETIC FIELDSDEEP WITHIN THE INTERIORS OF THESE PLANETS. THIS RESEARCH IS VERY MUCH IN LINE WITH ONE OF NASA'S OBJECTIVES: TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE SUN'S FAMILY OF PLANETS ORIGINATED AND EVOLVED.
$358,473FY2014National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA