Maps of Jupiter’s south polar region (JunoCam and ground-based)

(1)  2016-2020

The following four ZIP files contain polar projection maps of Jupiter’s south polar region from JunoCam (2016-2020, PJ1-PJ26) and from amateur ground-based observers (2018 & 2020).  These maps were used in analysing the structure and dynamics of the south polar region, as reported in a paper submitted for publication (2021 March):  ‘Flow patterns of Jupiter’s south polar region’, by J.H. Rogers et al.  Full details are in the paper*.

The JunoCam maps are in polar azimuthal equidistant projection with planetocentric latitude scale.  The images were created by the JunoCam team and the maps by Gerald Eichstädt and John Rogers. At every perijove, Gerald produces polar projection maps of all the individual images and John assembles these into composite maps.  Maps at early perijoves were not produced as systematically as at later ones, and the first CH4 map herein is for PJ9.

One set of JunoCam maps is in colour (RGB), with the edges set at 60°S; the second set is in the 889-nm methane band (CH4), with the edges set at the equator.  The third set consists of four TIF files which are pairs of RGB maps that can be blinked to show the wind patterns.  These are Supplementary Figures for the paper: Suppl.Figs. S1b (PJ15), S2b (PJ16), S3b (PJ17), & S4b (PJ21).

The ground-based maps are in polar orthographic projection with planetographic (2018) or planetocentric (2020) latitude scale, produced using WinJUPOS The images were created by the observers as named and the maps by Andy Casely, Rob Bullen and John Rogers. They are stacked TIF’s of multiple maps, either in RGB or in near-IR.

S-polar-maps_JunoCam-RGB_PJ1-PJ26.zip

S-polar-maps_JunoCam-CH4_PJ1-PJ24.zip

SPR-maps_JunoCam_Suppl-Figs-S1b-S4b.zip

SPR_ground-based-map-sets_2018&2020.zip

The maps are provided under a CC-BY licence: “The CC BY licence allows anyone to: copy, distribute and transmit work. adapt work. make commercial use of the work under the condition that the user must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests they endorse the user or their use of the work).”

I.e. these maps are in the public domain but should always be credited as indicated; and we ask that anyone wishing to use them for research or commercial purposes would contact us first.

*This paper has now been published:

J.H. Rogers, G. Eichstädt, C.J. Hansen, G.S. Orton, T. Momary, A. Casely, G. Adamoli, M. Jacquesson, R. Bullen, D. Peach, T. Olivetti, S. Brueshaber, M. Ravine, S. Bolton. ‘Flow patterns of Jupiter’s south polar region.’  Icarus 372, paper 114742 (2022 Jan.; online, 2021 Nov.).  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114742

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(2) 2020-2025

The following three ZIP files contain polar-projection colour maps of Jupiter’s south polar region from JunoCam (2020-2025, PJ27-PJ72). They are in polar azimuthal equidistant projection with planetocentric latitude scale.  The images were created by the JunoCam team and the maps by Gerald Eichstädt and John Rogers.  Gerald also produced methane-band (CH4) maps, only some of which are included here.  These southern hemisphere maps were all made on Juno’s outbound trajectory. Because of Juno’s orbital evolution, the outbound image resolution has continuously declined.

From PJ27 to PJ46, the maps are presented in JPG format (as in our perijove reports, to reduce file sizes); TIF versions can be provided if required. An unlabelled map is given for each perijove, as well as a version labelled with a long./lat. grid, and sometimes with features marked, from our perijove report.  Up to PJ33, the maps were made down to 60°S at the edges; from PJ34 onwards, down to  30°S, though often cropped to 45°S in these versions.  The scale for these is usually 30 pixels per degree latitude.  Some filenames include an indication of the map scale (e.g. ‘20px’ means 20 px/deg) and the latitude range (‘45S’ means down to 45°S at the edges).

From PJ46 onwards, the maps are in JPG or PNG format, mostly presented unlabelled, covering latitudes down to 45°S at the edges.  For these maps, Gerald used a semi-automated assembly method, eliminating the need for manual compilation. The map scale was usually reduced to reflect the decreasing image resolution.  There was no southern hemisphere imaging at PJ56 and PJ71.

The maps are provided under a CC-BY licence, as summarised above.  The maps are in these ZIP files:

PJ27-PJ33_Set-of-S-Polar-maps

PJ34-PJ46_Set-of-S-polar-maps

PJ47-PJ72_Set-of-S-Polar-maps

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Our perijove reports have intermittently followed features of long-term interest in these maps, including the CPCs and some long haze bands.  Our tracking of the CPCs up to PJ33 was reported [Rogers et al., 2021]**.  Due to the increasing image range and the increasing tilt of the south pole away from the sun, the southern CPCs (circumpolar cyclones) could not be consistently tracked after PJ35.  Tracking of AWOs (anticyclonic white ovals) and FFRs (folded filamentary regions) was described in [Rogers et al., 2022 – *above], and has been continued.  Individual FFRs change too fast to be recognised between perijoves, but since the orbital period was reduced to 33 days at PJ59, we have repeatedly commented in our perijove reports that the general pattern of FFRs and AWOs in the southernmost belt at 65-70°S is often consistent with the same drift rate of DL3 = +24 deg/30d.

** J. Rogers et al. (2021),  ‘Behaviour of Jupiter’s polar polygons over 4 years’.  EPSC Abstracts Vol. 15, no.57: EPSC2021-57.  https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2021-57

–John Rogers, 2025 July 14

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