Atmosphere of Jupiter Atmosphere of Jupiter The atmosphere of Jupiter is the largest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System. It is mostly made of molecular hydrogen and helium in roughly solar proportions; other chemical compounds are present only in small amounts and include methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and water. Although water is thought to reside deep in the atmosphere, its directly measured concentration is very low. The nitrogen, sulfur, and noble gas abundances in Jupiter's atmosphere exceed solar values by a factor of about three. The atmosphere of Jupiter lacks a clear lower boundary and gradually transitions into the liquid interior of the
Trace gas rate of removal. The Junge (empirical) relationship describes the relationship between concentration fluctuations and residence time of a gas in the atmosphere. It can expressed as fc = "b"/τ, where fc is the coefficient of variation, τ is the residence time in years, and "b" is an empirical constant, which Junge originally gave as 0.14 years. As residence time increases, the concentration variability decreases. This implies that the most reactive gases have the most concentration variability because of their shorter lifetimes. In contrast, more inert gases are non-variable and have longer lifetimes. When measured far from their sources and sinks,