A net heating efficiency of 50% is similar to the heating efficiency in the jovian thermosphere (Waite et al., 1983), and we may consider this as a representative case of a typical gas giant (hereafter, the H50 model). The maximum temperature in the H50 model is 11,500 K and the temperature peak is located near 1.5Rp (p = 0.3 nbar). As ηnet varies from 0.1 to 1, the peak shifts from 1.4Rp (0.5 nbar) to 1.9Rp (0.1 nbar) and the maximum temperature varies from 10,000 K to 13,200 K. It is interesting to note that the temperature profile depends strongly on the heating efficiency but the location of the peak and the maximum temperature depend only weakly on ηnet. This is because the vertical velocity increases with heating efficiency, leading to more efficient cooling by faster expansion that controls the peak temperature while enhanced advection and high altitude heating flatten the temperature gradient above the peak. As a result, the temperature profile is almost isothermal when ηnet = 1.
typical gas giant (hereafter, the H50 model)
net heating efficiency
50%
%
H50 model
maximum temperature
11,500 K
K
H50 model
temperature peak
near 1.5Rp
Rp
p
0.3 nbar
nbar
H50 model
ηnet
0.1 to 1
H50 model
peak
1.4Rp (0.5 nbar) to 1.9Rp (0.1 nbar)
Rp
H50 model
maximum temperature
10,000 K to 13,200 K
K
ηnet
1