(Proposal ID) S11B-024

(PI) Orton, Glenn

(Proposal Title)
Identifying the Source of Large-Scale Atmospheric Variability in Jupiter

(Abstract)
We propose to use the unique mid-infrared filtered imaging and spectroscopic 
capabilities of the Subaru COMICS instrument to determine the mechanisms 
associated with recent unusual rapid albedo and color transformations of 
several of Jupiter's bands, particularly its South Equatorial Belt (SEB), as a 
means to understand the coupling between its dynamics and chemistry. These 
observations will characterize the temperature, degree of cloud cover, and 
distribution of minor gases that serve as indirect tracers of vertical motions 
in regions that will be undergoing unusual large-scale changes in dynamics and 
chemistry: the SEB, as well as regions near the equator and Jupiter's North 
Temperate Belt. COMICS is ideal for this investigation because of its 
efficiency in doing both imaging and spectroscopy, its 24.5-mum filter that is 
unique to 8-meter-class telescopes, its wide field of view that allows imaging 
of nearly all of Jupiter's disk, coupled with a high diffraction-limited 
angular resolution and optimal mid-infrared atmospheric transparency.