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Planetary science

Plumbing the depths of Uranus and Neptune

Nature volume 497, pages 323–324 (2013)Cite this article

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An analysis of data collected by the Voyager 2 spacecraft and by ground-based telescopes limits the depths to which winds penetrate into Uranus and Neptune, informing the debate about these planets' internal structures. See Letter p.344

In an age in which space missions penetrate the far reaches of the Solar System, it seems incredible that planetary scientists still argue about the depth of atmospheric circulations inside the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, and the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn. But, because of the complexities of the problem, many uncertainties remain. The difficulties are compounded by the inaccessibility of the planets' interiors, which are hidden beneath dense layers of clouds, making it difficult to observe their structure and dynamics. It is therefore a great achievement for Kaspi et al.1 (page 344 of this issue) to have obtained, from careful and insightful analyses of the planets' gravitational fields, surprisingly tight constraints on how deeply the winds on Uranus and Neptune penetrate.

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Figure 1: Velocity fields in fluid planets.

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  1. Peter Read is in the Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK.,

    Peter Read

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Correspondence to Peter Read.

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Read, P. Plumbing the depths of Uranus and Neptune. Nature 497, 323–324 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/497323a

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