The atmosphere of Jupiter is colorful, with cloud bands of alternating
colors. A major characteristic of the atmosphere is the appearance of
regularly spaced features. Around the northern edge of the equator, a
train of plumes is observed, which has bright centers representative of
cumulus convection similar to that seen on Earth. At both northern and
southern latitudes, cloud spots are observed spaced almost all the way
around the planet, suggestive of wave interactions. The cloud structures
in the northern and southern hemispheres are distinctly different.
However, the velocities between the bright zones and dark belts appear
to be symmetric about the equator, and stable over many decades. This
suggests that such long-lived and stable features may be controlled by
the atmosphere far beneath the visible clouds. The Great Red Spot
possesses the same meteorological properties of internal structure and
counterclockwise rotation as the smaller white spots. The color of the
Great Red Spot may indicate that it extends deep into the Jovian
atmosphere. Cloud-top lightning bolts, similar to those on Earth, have
also been found in the Jovian atmosphere. At the polar regions, auroras
have been observed. A very thin ring of material less than one kilometer
(0.6 mile) in thickness and about 6000 kilometers (4000 miles) in radial
extent has been observed circling the planet about 55,000 kilometers
(35,000 miles) above the cloud tops.