Moist convection in the 24° N jet: studies using a new convective parameterization scheme in the EPIC model

The jovian atmosphere has demonstrated several convective outbreak events in recent years — with the outbreak in the 24° N latitude in October 2020 and Clyde’s spot in June 2020 being notable examples. These outbreaks are most likely driven by the release of latent heat from water condensation in the deeper atmosphere, and have resulted in large scale disruption of the upper level cloud structure and the dynamics of the atmosphere, at the locations where they form. At the 24° N latitude, these outbreaks occur every 4-5 years, and result in the formation of very distinct cloud features, that persist in the wake of the initial convective plume. To study the processes that drive these moist convective events, we use the Explicit Planetary hybrid-Isentropic Coordinate (EPIC) General Circulation Model (GCM) (Dowling et al, 2006), which has recently been updated with a sub-grid scale moist convective scheme. We use the new scheme to study the moist convective activity in the 24° N jet region, to infer the structure of the deeper atmosphere. We vary the abundance of water in the deeper atmosphere to study its subsequent effect on the convective potential and intensity of the triggered storms. We present preliminary results on the effect of moist convective storm formation in this region and constraints on the water abundance in the vicinity of the jet.