Program: GN-2017A-Q-49

Over the past four years we have been carrying out a unique mapping and monitoring program which measures the thermal variations in Jupiter's stratosphere driven by waves generated in the deep troposphere. The Quasi-Quadrennial Oscillation (QQO), a low latitude wave driven vertical oscillation of temperatures and winds in Jupiter's stratosphere, appears to be a close twin to the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) on Earth. Additionally, strong thermal anomalies have been continually observed over the past 4 years seemingly trapped between 20 and 30 degrees north latitude. We have learned an enormous amount about these wave phenomena form the TEXES/IRTF observations, however it appears that our observations are limited by the spatial resolution afforded by the 3-m IRTF. We propose to retrieve detailed scan mapped observations of Jupiter using TEXES on Gemini North, as we have done previously from the IRTF, to better resolve the meridional extent of the QQO, and the spatial scales of the northern mid-latitude thermal anomalies.