Overview
- The peer-reviewed study estimates Jupiter holds roughly one to one-and-a-half times the Sun’s oxygen, overturning earlier, lower estimates.
- Vertical diffusion in the atmosphere appears 35 to 40 times slower than standard assumptions, implying molecules move between layers over weeks rather than hours.
- The model couples chemistry and hydrodynamics and includes nearly 2,000 reactions generated with the Reaction Mechanism Generator, adding key high-pressure pathways such as the Hidaka reaction.
- Because most oxygen resides as water in deep, cloudy layers, the team used carbon monoxide as an observable tracer to infer the bulk oxygen inventory.
- Simulations indicate an elevated carbon-to-oxygen ratio near 2.9, consistent with formation scenarios involving carbon-rich solids or ices beyond the frost line, as reported in The Planetary Science Journal.