Original Model of Jupiter’s Belts and Zones

Original Model of Jupiter’s Belts and Zones
The light-colored zones and dark-colored belts in Jupiter’s atmosphere were believed until recently to be regions of rising and descending gases,
respectively. In the zones, gases warmed by heat from Jupiter’s interior were thought to rise upward and cool, forming high-altitude clouds. In the
belts, cooled gases were thought to descend and undergo an increase in temperature; the cloud layers seen there are at lower altitudes than in the
zones. Observations by the Cassini spacecraft on its way to Saturn suggest that just the opposite may be correct (stay tuned)! In either case, Jupiter’s
rapid differential rotation shapes the rising and descending gas into bands of winds parallel to the planet’s equator