Tag Archive: Jupiter

Research brief: How magnetic fields can make water behave like honey

November 26, 2019 10:49 am Published by Comments Off on Research brief: How magnetic fields can make water behave like honey

Turning on a magnetic field may make fluids that conduct electricity behave more like honey than like water. This discovery may help explain a mystery of Jupiter's zonal winds, the alternating east-west jet streams, seen in photographs as colourful stripes.

Research brief: Magnetic Suppression of Zonal Flows on a Beta Plane

October 4, 2018 12:03 pm Published by 1 Comment

One of the most striking features of Jupiter –-a gaseous giant with no solid surface-- is the coloured bands encircling the planet. These bands are strong zonal jets that flow in Jupiter’s atmosphere, similar in a way to the jets in Earth's atmosphere. Until recently, we had almost no direct observations beneath Jupiter's clouds.