title: Bulletstorm

text: The multiplayer component of the game received lackluster reviews. VanOrd felt the multiplayer was fun but limited in scope. He remarked that the experience, while mostly rewarding, could be frustrating if the players were joined by strangers. He added the mode's maps were too small and players may get bored easily because of a lack of variety. Gies shared a similar sentiment, writing that Anarchy became repetitive very quickly. Gies labeled the absence of campaign co-op as a missed opportunity. While he called Echo a good inclusion, he was disappointed that the leaderboard was not incorporated into the game's main campaign. Nelson liked the Anarchy mode for including new Skillshots, but called the Echo mode "cut-and-dry". Donlan liked the Echo mode for being a distilled experience, which disregarded the story elements completely and compared the leaderboard competition favorably to that of "" and "Zuma Blitz".


title: Bulletstorm

text: The remastered version also received generally positive reviews. Scott Butterworth of "GameSpot" praised the upgraded textures and visuals, "impressive" draw distance and stable frame rate. However, he was disappointed that the Duke Nukem DLC did not meaningfully change the story or change the cutscenes. "IGN"s Lucy O'Brien praised the improved lighting system and believed that the improved visuals helped elevate the intensity and the urgency of the game's setpieces. However, she noted the original game showed its age due to the presence of invisible walls and the lack of a dedicated jump button. She expressed her disappointment that PCF did not add much that was new to the remaster. Reviewing the Nintendo Switch version, PJ O'Reilly of "Nintendo Life" expressed his disappointment regarding the absence of multiplayer and the lack of gyroscopic controls.


title: Bulletstorm

text: On February 8, 2011, the game came under scrutiny by Fox News in an article on their website by John Brandon, a televised broadcast and another article. Part of a Fox News panel was psychologist Carole Lieberman, who claimed, "The increase in rapes can be attributed in large part to the playing out of [sexual] scenes in video games". Her statement caused enraged gamers to review bomb her book at Amazon.com. Lieberman later responded by saying that her quotes were taken out of context by Brandon. Nonetheless, she continued to draw correlations between rape and sexual content in video games, claiming to have "thousands" of research papers supporting her claim. To support her claim, Lieberman referred to eight sources, one of them being "Bulletstorm". Gaming blog "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" analysed Lieberman's claims, and found only one of eight sources she provided had anything to do with the subject at hand. "Kotaku" also quoted data from US Department of Justice that the number of rape cases have been declining since 1973, though Lieberman refuted this by saying that the official rape statistics were "known to be variable and unreliable". Dr. Mark Griffiths, a professor at Nottingham Trent University, whose lectures focused on video game addiction, described Fox's news piece as "sensationalist" in a "Guardian" interview. He added it would be very difficult to prove that exposure to sexual content in video games contributed to rape crimes because of the large number of confounding factors involved. Brandon followed up his report on February 20, adding that the gaming press "reacted violently" and the experts he had talked to "were nearly universally worried that video game violence may be reaching a fever pitch". "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" later contacted the experts, most of whom said they had never said there is a conclusive link between video game violence and real world violence.


title: Bulletstorm

text: EA defended the game's developers and the game. Its vice president of public relations, Tammy Schachter, wrote the publisher had followed the policies established by the ESRB and marketed the game only to a mature audience. She added that "much like Tarantino's "Kill Bill" or Rodriguez's "Sin City", this game is an expression of creative entertainment for adults". Epic's CEO Mike Capps added that the Fox News controversy helped the game reach a wider audience, and he was delighted the gaming press helped defend the game. He noted his concern that the Fox news piece may mislead an uninformed public.


title: Bulletstorm

text: EA had high sales expectations for the game. David DeMartini, an EA executive, remarked the game had the potential to perform as well as the "Gears of War" games.


title: Bulletstorm

text: In the United Kingdom, "Bulletstorm" was the second best-selling video game in its release week behind "Killzone 3". In the US, it was the seventh best-selling game in February 2011. It sold around 300,000 units in February; the Xbox 360 was the platform of choice for most players. Capps added the game did not turn a profit for Epic, while an unnamed source from EA revealed that the game "underperformed" for them. In 2013, it was revealed the game sold just under one million copies. Capps added that the game did not sell well on the PC, citing piracy as the main reason behind its disappointing performance, though he admitted it was not a very good port. Chmielarz initially blamed the game's EA marketing, which reduced "fresh ideas to dick-jokes for dude-bros". He later recognized the game was the victim of an industry shift, as smaller-tier games were slowly being phased out. However, Sebastian Wojciechowski, the CEO of People Can Fly following their split from Epic, felt the game sold well, adding it would never be considered as successful or profitable as Epic's "Gears of War" series at the time.


title: Bulletstorm

text: "Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition" debuted as the 23rd best-selling game in the UK in its release week. Wojciechowski added that the sales of the remaster "went really, really well" and that it validated the studio's belief that it should do something with the IP in the future.


title: Bulletstorm

text: According to Capps, the studio had begun development of "Bulletstorm"s sequel, but it was sidelined as Epic assigned PCF to work on "", a spin-off in the "Gears of War" series. PCF became independent in 2015 following a management buyout, and it retained the intellectual property rights to "Bulletstorm". Speaking about a potential sequel in 2019, Wojciechowski, said the studio wanted the IP to have a "second life" despite the fact that it was not the studio's short-term goal. Wojciechowski added that should the studio return to the IP, they would consider ways to make it more popular.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The Field Artillery Branch is a combat arms branch of the United States Army that is responsible for field artillery.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The U.S. Army Field Artillery branch traces its origins to 17 November 1775 when the Continental Congress, unanimously elected Henry Knox "Colonel of the Regiment of Artillery". The regiment formally entered service on 1 January 1776. During the 19th Century a total of seven Artillery regiments were formed which contained a mixture of "heavy" artillery companies and "light" artillery batteries. The light artillery batteries took the role of field artillery although they did not use that designation. The seven artillery regiments were designated as regiments of artillery and were not distinguished as being either "coast" or "field" artillery as was the practice in the 20th Century.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: In the reorganization of the Army by the Act of 2 February 1901, the seven Artillery regiments were reorganized as the Artillery Corps. The Corps was split into 195 battery-sized units, called companies at the time, of Field Artillery and Coast Artillery. In 1907 the Artillery Corps was reorganized into the Field Artillery and the Coast Artillery Corps. Although presently Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery are separate branches, both inherit the traditions of the Artillery branch.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: In 1907, the Field Artillery companies of the Artillery Corps were organized into six Field Artillery regiments. In 1916, as the United States was preparing for its eventual entry into World War I, these six regiments were supplemented by 15 more Field Artillery regiments. During World War I numerous other Field Artillery Regiments were organized in the National Guard and National Army, which were mobilized to supplement the Regular Army.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: In 1924 the Army organized the Coast Artillery Corps into regiments. The first seven regiments retained the lineage of the seven Artillery regiments which existed in the 19th Century. The Coast Artillery Corps was disbanded in 1950 and its units were consolidated with the Field Artillery in the Artillery branch. In 1968 the Artillery branch divided into Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery branches with the newly formed 1st through 7th Air Defense Artillery regiments retaining the lineage of the seven 19th Century artillery regiments.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: Although the oldest Artillery regiments in the Army are in the Air Defense Artillery branch, this is not necessarily the case for individual units below the regimental level. For example, the 1st Battalion of the 5th Field Artillery traces its lineage to the Alexander Hamilton Battery, formed in 1776, which is the oldest Artillery unit in the active United States Army and is the only Regular Army unit which can trace its lineage to the American Revolution.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The oldest Field Artillery unit in the U.S. Army is 1st Battalion, 101st Field Artillery, Massachusetts Army National Guard, which traces its origins to December 1636. Originally an Infantry unit, it was reorganized as an Artillery unit in 1916.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The mission of the Field Artillery is to destroy, defeat, or disrupt the enemy with integrated fires to enable maneuver commanders to dominate in unified land operations.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The Field Artillery is one of the Army's combat arms, traditionally one of the three major branches (with Infantry and Armor). It refers to those units that use artillery weapons systems to deliver surface-to-surface long range indirect fire. Indirect fire means that the projectile does not follow the line of sight to the target. Mortars are not field artillery weapons; they are organic to infantry units and are manned by infantry personnel (US Army MOS 11C or USMC 0341).


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The term field artillery is to distinguish from the Air Defense Artillery, and historically, from the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (with the function of coastal defense artillery), a branch which existed from 1901–1950. In 1950, the two branches were unified and called simply Artillery, until Air Defense Artillery was made into a separate branch in 1968. The insignia of the Field Artillery branch is a pair of crossed field guns (19th-century-style cannon) in gold, and dates back to 1834.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: Field artillery is called the "King of Battle". Conflicts in the 20th century saw artillery become exponentially more effective as indirect fire methods were introduced immediately prior to World War I. During World War I and World War II, field artillery was the single highest casualty-producing weapons system on any battlefield.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: Soldiers from artillery units have often been used as infantry during both the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. While field artillery units have often performed admirably as infantry and accomplishing infantry missions, such use has led to atrophy of essential field artillery specific skills and tasks.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: Members of the Field Artillery are referred to as "redlegs" because during the Mexican American War, both Ringgold's Battery and Duncan's Battery were issued uniforms distinguished by scarlet stripes down the legs of their uniform pants, a practice continued through the Civil War and on dress uniforms even after WWI.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: Scarlet was established as the Artillery Branch color along with crossed cannon branch insignia in the Regulations of 1833. Branch colors are found on the shoulder straps of officers wearing the blue dress uniform and on branch of service scarves authorized for wear with a variety of uniforms.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: From 1920 to 1942, the Field Artillery corps was led by a branch chief who held the rank of major general. This was in keeping with the Army's other major branches, including infantry, cavalry, and coast artillery. Each chief was responsible for planning and overseeing execution of training, equipping, and manning within his branch. From 1903 to 1908, one Chief of Artillery oversaw both field artillery and coast artillery. After 1908, one general served as Chief of Coast Artillery. After 1920, the Chief of Coast Artillery was joined by the Chief of Field Artillery. The branch chief positions were eliminated in 1942, and their functions consolidated under the commander of the Army Ground Forces as a way to end inter-branch rivalries and enable synchronized and coordinated activities as part of World War II's combined arms doctrine.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The professional journal of the Field Artillery is published at Fort Sill. Known as the "Field Artillery Journal" in 1911, it went through many name changes through "Field Artillery" in 1987. The journal merged with "Air Defense Artillery" in 2007 to become "Fires".


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) is a priority of the U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC). The aim is to modernize a suite of capabilities of the artillery. LRPF appears to be a


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: According to AFC, the mission of the Long Range Precision Fires (LRPF) CFT is to "deliver cutting-edge surface-to-surface (SSM) fires systems that will significantly increase range and effects over currently fielded US and adversary systems."


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: Based on Futures Command's development between July 2018 and December 2020, by 2023 the earliest versions of these weapons will be fielded:


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The kill chains will take less than 1 minute, from detection of the target, to execution of the fires command; these operations will have the capability to precisely strike "command centers, air defenses, missile batteries, and logistics centers" nearly simultaneously.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The current M109A6 "Paladin" howitzer range is doubled in the M109A7 variant. An operational test of components of the Long range cannon was scheduled for 2020. The LRC is complementary to Extended range cannon artillery (ERCA), the M1299 Extended Range Cannon Artillery howitzer. Baseline ERCA is to enter service in 2023. Investigations for ERCA in 2025: rocket-boosted artillery shells: Tests of the Multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) XM30 rocket shell have demonstrated a near-doubling of the range of the munition, using the Tail controlled guided multiple launch rocket system, or TC-G. The TRADOC capability manager (TCM) Field Artillery Brigade - DIVARTY has been named a command position.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The LRHW has been named 'Dark Eagle' The first LRHW battery will start to receive its first operational rounds in early FY2023; all eight rounds for this battery will have been delivered by FY2023. By then, the PEO Missiles and Space will have picked up the LRHW program, for batteries two and three in FY'25 and FY'27, respectively. Battery one will first train, and then participate in the LRHW flight test launches in FY'22 and FY'23.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: In 1789 after the Revolution there was only one battalion of four companies of artillery. In 1794 a "Corps of Artillerists and Engineers" was organized, which included the four companies of artillery then in service and had sixteen companies in four battalions. In 1802 there was a reduction of the army. The Artillery were separated from the Engineers and the former formed into one regiment of 20 companies. In 1808 a regiment of ten companies called the "Regiment of Light Artillery" was formed. In 1812 two more regiments were added.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: In 1901 the regimental organization of the US Army artillery was abolished, more companies were added, and given numerical designations.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: In 1907 the Coast Artillery Corps was established as a separate branch, and the Field Artillery re-established regiments officially, although provisional regiments had existed since 1905.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: In 1917, following the American entry into World War I, the numbers from 1 through 100 were reserved for the Regular Army, from 101 through 300 for the National Guard, and 301 and above for the National Army. Under this system the 1st through 21st and 76th through 83d were organized in the Regular Army; the 101st through 151st, in the National Guard; and, the 25th through 75th, 84th and 85th, and the 301st through 351st in the National Army. Field Artillery Brigades, numbered 1st through 24th, 51st through 67th, and 151st through 172d, were also organized, with each brigade typically commanding three regiments; each division had one of these artillery brigades.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The Coast Artillery Corps constantly reorganized the numbered companies until 1924, but during World War I created 61 artillery regiments from the numbered companies, for service (or potential service) with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF); the 30th through 45th Artillery Brigades were also created to command groups of these regiments. These regiments operated almost all US-manned heavy and railway artillery on the Western Front, and were designated, for example, 51st Artillery (Coast Artillery Corps (CAC)). Most of these were disbanded immediately after the war. The Coast Artillery also acquired the antiaircraft mission during the war, which was formalized a few years later. In 1924 the Coast Artillery Corps adopted a regimental system, and numbered companies were returned to letter designations. (In order to promote esprit-de-corps, the first 7 regiments were linked to the original 7 regiments of artillery). During 1943 most antiaircraft units lost their Coast Artillery designations, and the regiments were broken up into battalions. However, the antiaircraft branch remained nominally part of the Coast Artillery Corps. In late 1944 the Coast Artillery harbor defense regiments were inactivated or reorganized as battalions, which themselves were mostly disbanded in April 1945, with personnel transferred to the local Harbor Defense Commands. 977 Coast Artillery and antiaircraft battalions were created before the branch's demise in 1950.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: In 1943 an Army-wide (except infantry) reorganization created numerous serially numbered battalions, and most regiments were broken up into battalions. Also during World War II new designations were applied to some units, the "Armored Field Artillery Battalion" for self-propelled units and the "Parachute (or Glider) Field Artillery Battalion" for airborne units. A number of "Field Artillery Groups" were also created during the war.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The Army Anti-Aircraft Command ARAACOM was created July 1950, and in 1957, ARAACOM was renamed to US Army Air Defense Command (USARADCOM). A new system, the U.S. Army Combat Arms Regimental System, or CARS, was adopted in 1957 to replace the old regimental system. CARS used the Army's traditional regiments as parent organizations for historical purposes, but the primary building blocks are divisions, and brigades became battalions. Each battalion carries an association with a parent regiment, even though the regimental organization no longer exists. In some brigades several numbered battalions carrying the same regimental association may still serve together, and tend to consider themselves part of the traditional regiment when in fact they are independent battalions serving a brigade, rather than a regimental, headquarters. From circa 1959 through 1971 antiaircraft units and field artillery units were combined with common parent regiments for lineage purposes, for example the "1st Artillery".


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: In 1968 the Air Defense Artillery Branch (United States Army) was split from the artillery, with the Regular Army air defense and field artillery regiments separating on 1 September 1971.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: The CARS was replaced by the U.S. Army Regimental System (USARS) in 1981. US Artillery Structure 1989. On 1 October 2005, the word "regiment" was formally appended to the name of all active and inactive CARS and USARS regiments. So, for example, the 1st Cavalry officially became titled the 1st Cavalry Regiment.


title: Field Artillery Branch (United States)

text: During the Cold War the Field Artillery was responsible for all mobile ballistic missile weapons systems, including the Lance and Pershing II ballistic missiles.


title: Ty Jerome

text: Ty Jeremy Jerome (born July 8, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Virginia Cavaliers; where in 2019 he was the starting point guard on their national championship team. Jerome was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2019 NBA draft but was traded to the Phoenix Suns.


title: Ty Jerome

text: Jerome attended Iona Preparatory School in New Rochelle, New York and was a four-year varsity player. After his junior season at Iona Prep, he was named first-team All-Conference, All-Metropolitan, and All-State. Jerome's senior season was cut short due to a hip injury. On September 2, 2014, Jerome committed to playing college basketball at the University of Virginia.


title: Ty Jerome

text: During his freshman year at Virginia, Jerome was the backup point guard to London Perrantes. Coming off the bench, he averaged 4.3 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists.


title: Ty Jerome

text: Jerome took over as the Cavaliers' starting point guard his sophomore year. On December 30, 2017, he put up a career-high 31 points against Boston College. His play during the season earned him a spot on the All-ACC Third Team.


title: Ty Jerome

text: Prior to the 2018-2019 season, Jerome was selected to the pre-season all-ACC Second Team. On February 4, 2019, Jerome was named as one of the ten finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, recognizing the nation's top college point guard. He was projected in most mock drafts as an early second-round pick in the 2019 NBA draft. Jerome averaged 13.6 points per game and 5.5 assists per game, helping lead Virginia to another #1 seed in the 2019 NCAA tournament. Virginia would win the 2019 Championship game 85-77 behind Jerome's 16 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds.


title: Ty Jerome

text: At the conclusion of the season, Jerome announced his intention to forgo his final season of collegiate eligibility and declare for the 2019 NBA draft while hiring an agent.


title: Ty Jerome

text: On June 20, 2019, the Philadelphia 76ers selected Jerome with the 24th pick in the 2019 NBA draft. His rights were later traded to the Boston Celtics alongside Philadelphia's 33rd pick for the draft rights to Matisse Thybulle before being traded to the Phoenix Suns alongside Aron Baynes for a future first round pick. Coincidentally, both players the Suns traded for were recruited out of high school and played their college basketball for Tony Bennett: Baynes at Washington State and Jerome at Virginia. On July 6, the Phoenix Suns announced that they had signed Jerome. Before the start of the season, Jerome sprained his right ankle on October 21, leaving him out indefinitely. On November 25, Jerome was assigned to the Northern Arizona Suns. Jerome played the next day in a loss against the Iowa Wolves before being recalled by Phoenix on November 27. Jerome was assigned to Northern Arizona again on November 29 for a game against the Sioux Falls Skyforce before being recalled to Phoenix a day later.


title: Ty Jerome

text: Jerome made his NBA debut on December 2, 2019 in a 109–104 win over the Charlotte Hornets with four points, four assists, three rebounds, and three steals in 12 minutes of play. On December 21, Jerome scored a season-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting in a 139–125 loss to the Houston Rockets. Jerome was later assigned to the Northern Arizona Suns for a game on March 4 before returning to Phoenix a day later.


title: Ty Jerome

text: On November 16, 2020, Jerome was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder alongside Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky Rubio, Jalen Lecque, and a 2022 first-round pick in exchange for Chris Paul and Abdel Nader. He was assigned to the Thunder's G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, still recovering from a severe left ankle sprain suffered a year earlier. He made his debut playing limited minutes for the Blue on February 11, 2021. Jerome made his Thunder debut in a game against the Atlanta Hawks on February 26. He finished the game with 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists in 22 minutes. Ty scored his career high in points, 23, against the Cleveland Cavaliers on April 8.


title: Ty Jerome

text: On September 30, 2022, Jerome was traded, along with Derrick Favors, Maurice Harkless, Théo Maledon and a future second-round pick, to the Houston Rockets in exchange for David Nwaba, Sterling Brown, Trey Burke, and Marquese Chriss. The following day, he was waived.


title: Ty Jerome

text: Jerome was signed to the Golden State Warriors on October 4, 2022 for the rest of the preseason, he then signed to a two-way contract to play along with the affiliate Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League.


title: Ty Jerome

text: Jerome's parents are Mark Jerome and Melanie Walker. He has two brothers and two sisters. Jerome majored in American Studies while at the University of Virginia. His favorite player in the NBA growing up was Steve Nash.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: 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.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The atmosphere of Jupiter lacks a clear lower boundary and gradually transitions into the liquid interior of the planet. From lowest to highest, the atmospheric layers are the troposphere, stratosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. Each layer has characteristic temperature gradients. The lowest layer, the troposphere, has a complicated system of clouds and hazes, comprising layers of ammonia, ammonium hydrosulfide and water. The upper ammonia clouds visible at Jupiter's surface are organized in a dozen zonal bands parallel to the equator and are bounded by powerful zonal atmospheric flows (winds) known as "jets". The bands alternate in color: the dark bands are called "belts", while light ones are called "zones". Zones, which are colder than belts, correspond to upwellings, while belts mark descending gas. The zones' lighter color is believed to result from ammonia ice; what gives the belts their darker colors is uncertain. The origins of the banded structure and jets are not well understood, though a "shallow model" and a "deep model" exist.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The Jovian atmosphere shows a wide range of active phenomena, including band instabilities, vortices (cyclones and anticyclones), storms and lightning. The vortices reveal themselves as large red, white or brown spots (ovals). The largest two spots are the Great Red Spot (GRS) and Oval BA, which is also red. These two and most of the other large spots are anticyclonic. Smaller anticyclones tend to be white. Vortices are thought to be relatively shallow structures with depths not exceeding several hundred kilometers. Located in the southern hemisphere, the GRS is the largest known vortex in the Solar System. It could engulf two or three Earths and has existed for at least three hundred years. Oval BA, south of GRS, is a red spot a third the size of GRS that formed in 2000 from the merging of three white ovals.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Jupiter has powerful storms, often accompanied by lightning strikes. The storms are a result of moist convection in the atmosphere connected to the evaporation and condensation of water. They are sites of strong upward motion of the air, which leads to the formation of bright and dense clouds. The storms form mainly in belt regions. The lightning strikes on Jupiter are hundreds of times more powerful than those seen on Earth, and are assumed to be associated with the water clouds. Recent Juno observations suggest Jovian lightning strikes occur above the altitude of water clouds (3-7 bars). A charge separation between falling liquid ammonia-water droplets and water ice particles may generate the higher-altitude lightning. Upper-atmospheric lightning has also been observed 260 km above the 1 bar level.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The atmosphere of Jupiter is classified into four layers, by increasing altitude: the troposphere, stratosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. Unlike the Earth's atmosphere, Jupiter's lacks a mesosphere. Jupiter does not have a solid surface, and the lowest atmospheric layer, the troposphere, smoothly transitions into the planet's fluid interior. This is a result of having temperatures and the pressures well above those of the critical points for hydrogen and helium, meaning that there is no sharp boundary between gas and liquid phases. Hydrogen is considered a supercritical fluid when the temperature is above 33 K and the pressure is above 13 bar.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Since the lower boundary of the atmosphere is ill-defined, the pressure level of 10 bars, at an altitude of about 90 km below 1 bar with a temperature of around 340 K, is commonly treated as the base of the troposphere. In scientific literature, the 1 bar pressure level is usually chosen as a zero point for altitudes—a "surface" of Jupiter. As is generally the case, the top atmospheric layer, the exosphere, does not have a specific upper boundary. The density gradually decreases until it smoothly transitions into the interplanetary medium approximately 5,000 km above the "surface".


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The vertical temperature gradients in the Jovian atmosphere are similar to those of the atmosphere of Earth. The temperature of the troposphere decreases with height until it reaches a minimum at the tropopause, which is the boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere. On Jupiter, the tropopause is approximately 50 km above the visible clouds (or 1 bar level). The pressure and temperature at the tropopause are about 0.1 bar and 110 K. (This gives a drop of 340−110=230 °C over 90+50=140 km. The adiabatic lapse rate on Earth is around 9.8 °C per km. The adiabatic lapse rate is proportional to the average molecular weight and the gravitational force. The latter is about 2.5 times stronger than on Earth, but the average molecular weight is about 15 times less.) In the stratosphere, the temperatures rise to about 200 K at the transition into the thermosphere, at an altitude and pressure of around 320 km and 1 μbar. In the thermosphere, temperatures continue to rise, eventually reaching 1000 K at about 1000 km, where pressure is about 1 nbar.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Jupiter's troposphere contains a complicated cloud structure. The upper clouds, located in the pressure range 0.6–0.9 bar, are made of ammonia ice. Below these ammonia ice clouds, denser clouds made of ammonium hydrosulfide ((NH)SH) or ammonium sulfide ((NH)S, between 1–2 bar) and water (3–7 bar) are thought to exist. There are no methane clouds as the temperatures are too high for it to condense. The water clouds form the densest layer of clouds and have the strongest influence on the dynamics of the atmosphere. This is a result of the higher condensation heat of water and higher water abundance as compared to the ammonia and hydrogen sulfide (oxygen is a more abundant chemical element than either nitrogen or sulfur). Various tropospheric (at 200–500 mbar) and stratospheric (at 10–100 mbar) haze layers reside above the main cloud layers. The stratospheric haze layers are made from condensed heavy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or hydrazine, which are generated in the upper stratosphere (1–100 μbar) from methane under the influence of the solar ultraviolet radiation (UV). The methane abundance relative to molecular hydrogen in the stratosphere is about 10, while the abundance ratio of other light hydrocarbons, like ethane and acetylene, to molecular hydrogen is about 10.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Jupiter's thermosphere is located at pressures lower than 1 μbar and demonstrates such phenomena as airglow, polar aurorae and X-ray emissions. Within it lie layers of increased electron and ion density that form the ionosphere. The high temperatures prevalent in the thermosphere (800–1000 K) have not been explained yet; existing models predict a temperature no higher than about 400 K. They may be caused by absorption of high-energy solar radiation (UV or X-ray), by heating from the charged particles precipitating from the Jovian magnetosphere, or by dissipation of upward-propagating gravity waves. The thermosphere and exosphere at the poles and at low latitudes emit X-rays, which were first observed by the Einstein Observatory in 1983. The energetic particles coming from Jupiter's magnetosphere create bright auroral ovals, which encircle the poles. Unlike their terrestrial analogs, which appear only during magnetic storms, aurorae are permanent features of Jupiter's atmosphere. The thermosphere was the first place outside the Earth where the trihydrogen cation () was discovered. This ion emits strongly in the mid-infrared part of the spectrum, at wavelengths between 3 and 5 μm; this is the main cooling mechanism of the thermosphere.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The composition of Jupiter's atmosphere is similar to that of the planet as a whole. Jupiter's atmosphere is the most comprehensively understood of those of all the gas giants because it was observed directly by the "Galileo" atmospheric probe when it entered the Jovian atmosphere on December 7, 1995. Other sources of information about Jupiter's atmospheric composition include the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), the "Galileo" and "Cassini" orbiters, and Earth-based observations.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The two main constituents of the Jovian atmosphere are molecular hydrogen () and helium. The helium abundance is relative to molecular hydrogen by number of molecules, and its mass fraction is , which is slightly lower than the Solar System's primordial value. The reason for this low abundance is not entirely understood, but some of the helium may have condensed into the core of Jupiter. This condensation is likely to be in the form of helium rain: as hydrogen turns into the metallic state at depths of more than 10,000 km, helium separates from it forming droplets which, being denser than the metallic hydrogen, descend towards the core. This can also explain the severe depletion of neon (see Table), an element that easily dissolves in helium droplets and would be transported in them towards the core as well.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The atmosphere contains various simple compounds such as water, methane (CH), hydrogen sulfide (HS), ammonia (NH) and phosphine (PH). Their abundances in the deep (below 10 bar) troposphere imply that the atmosphere of Jupiter is enriched in the elements carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and possibly oxygen by a factor of 2–4 relative to the Sun. The noble gases argon, krypton and xenon also appear in abundance relative to solar levels (see table), while neon is scarcer. Other chemical compounds such as arsine (AsH) and germane (GeH) are present only in trace amounts. The upper atmosphere of Jupiter contains small amounts of simple hydrocarbons such as ethane, acetylene, and diacetylene, which form from methane under the influence of the solar ultraviolet radiation and charged particles coming from Jupiter's magnetosphere. The carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water present in the upper atmosphere are thought to originate from impacting comets, such as Shoemaker-Levy 9. The water cannot come from the troposphere because the cold tropopause acts like a cold trap, effectively preventing water from rising to the stratosphere (see Vertical structure above).


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Earth- and spacecraft-based measurements have led to improved knowledge of the isotopic ratios in Jupiter's atmosphere. As of July 2003, the accepted value for the deuterium abundance is , which probably represents the primordial value in the protosolar nebula that gave birth to the Solar System. The ratio of nitrogen isotopes in the Jovian atmosphere, N to N, is 2.3, a third lower than that in the Earth's atmosphere (3.5). The latter discovery is especially significant since the previous theories of Solar System formation considered the terrestrial value for the ratio of nitrogen isotopes to be primordial.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The visible surface of Jupiter is divided into several bands parallel to the equator. There are two types of bands: lightly colored "zones" and relatively dark "belts." The wider Equatorial Zone (EZ) extends between latitudes of approximately 7°S to 7°N. Above and below the EZ, the North and South Equatorial belts (NEB and SEB) extend to 18°N and 18°S, respectively. Farther from the equator lie the North and South Tropical zones (NtrZ and STrZ). The alternating pattern of belts and zones continues until the polar regions at approximately 50 degrees latitude, where their visible appearance becomes somewhat muted.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The difference in the appearance between zones and belts is caused by differences in the opacity of the clouds. Ammonia concentration is higher in zones, which leads to the appearance of denser clouds of ammonia ice at higher altitudes, which in turn leads to their lighter color. On the other hand, in belts clouds are thinner and are located at lower altitudes. The upper troposphere is colder in zones and warmer in belts. The exact nature of chemicals that make Jovian zones and bands so colorful is not known, but they may include complicated compounds of sulfur, phosphorus and carbon.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The Jovian bands are bounded by zonal atmospheric flows (winds), called jets. The eastward (prograde) jets are found at the transition from zones to belts (going away from the equator), whereas westward (retrograde) jets mark the transition from belts to zones. Such flow velocity patterns mean that the jets' eastward momentum decreases in belts and increases in zones from the equator to the pole. Therefore, wind shear in belts is cyclonic, while in zones it is anticyclonic. The EZ is an exception to this rule, showing a strong eastward (prograde) jet and has a local minimum of the wind speed exactly at the equator. The jet speeds are high on Jupiter, reaching more than 100 m/s. These speeds correspond to ammonia clouds located in the pressure range 0.7–1 bar. The prograde jets are generally more powerful than the retrograde jets. The jets extend thousands of kilometers into the interior, as measured by the gravitometer instrument onboard of the Juno spacecraft. The direction at which the jets extend into the planet is parallel to Jupiter's axis of rotation rather than in a radial direction (toward the center of the planet), consistent with the Taylor-Proudman theorem. The Galileo Probe measured the vertical profile of a jet along its descent trajectory into Jupiter's atmosphere, finding the winds to decay over two to three scale heights above the clouds, while below the cloud level, winds increase slightly and then remain constant down to at least 22 bar—the maximum operational depth reached by the probe.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The origin of Jupiter's colored banded structure is not completely clear, though it may resemble the cloud structure of Earth's Hadley cells. The simplest interpretation is that zones are sites of atmospheric upwelling, whereas belts are manifestations of downwelling. When air enriched in ammonia rises in zones, it expands and cools, forming high and dense white clouds. In belts, however, the air descends, warming adiabatically as in a convergence zone on Earth, and white ammonia clouds evaporate, revealing lower, darker clouds. The location and width of bands, speed and location of jets on Jupiter are remarkably stable, having changed only slightly between 1980 and 2000. One example of change is a decrease of the speed of the strongest eastward jet located at the boundary between the North Tropical zone and North Temperate belts at 23°N. However bands vary in coloration and intensity over time (see "specific band"). These variations were first observed in the early seventeenth century.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Meridional circulation cells are a large-scale atmospheric motion where gas rises at a certain latitude, travel in the north-south (meridional) direction, descends, and get back to the origin in a closed cell circulation. On Earth, the meridional circulation is composed of 3 cells in each hemisphere: Hadley, Ferrel and Polar cells. On Jupiter, the visible cloud bands gave indication for upward motion in the zones and downward motion in the belts, indicative only for the upper few bars. However, higher frequency of lightning flashes in the belts, indicative of upward atmospheric motion, gave indication for a revered motion in the deeper atmosphere. Juno's microwave measurements probe the atmosphere down to ~240 bar. These measurements confirmed the existence of these motions as a part of mid-latitudes large circulation cells with upward motion in the belts and downward motions in the zones, extending from ~1 bar down to at least ~240 bar. So far, 8 cells have been identified at each of Jupiter's hemispheres along latitudes 20°-60° N\S. The mid-latitude cells are driven by breaking of atmospheric waves, similar to the Ferrel cells on Earth. While on Earth, the return flow in the cells' lower branch is balanced by friction in the Ekman layer, the balance in Jupiter in yet unknown, but one possibility is that the friction is maintained by magnetic drag.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The belts and zones that divide Jupiter's atmosphere each have their own names and unique characteristics. They begin below the North and South Polar Regions, which extend from the poles to roughly 40–48° N/S. These bluish-gray regions are usually featureless.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The North North Temperate Region rarely shows more detail than the polar regions, due to limb darkening, foreshortening, and the general diffuseness of features. However, the North-North Temperate Belt (NNTB) is the northernmost distinct belt, though it occasionally disappears. Disturbances tend to be minor and short-lived. The North-North Temperate Zone (NNTZ) is perhaps more prominent, but also generally quiet. Other minor belts and zones in the region are occasionally observed.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The North Temperate Region is part of a latitudinal region easily observable from Earth, and thus has a superb record of observation. It also features the strongest prograde jet stream on the planet—a westerly current that forms the southern boundary of the North Temperate Belt (NTB). The NTB fades roughly once a decade (this was the case during the "Voyager" encounters), making the North Temperate Zone (NTZ) apparently merge into the North Tropical Zone (NTropZ). Other times, the NTZ is divided by a narrow belt into northern and southern components.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The North Tropical Region is composed of the NTropZ and the North Equatorial Belt (NEB). The NTropZ is generally stable in coloration, changing in tint only in tandem with activity on the NTB's southern jet stream. Like the NTZ, it too is sometimes divided by a narrow band, the NTropB. On rare occasions, the southern NTropZ plays host to "Little Red Spots". As the name suggests, these are northern equivalents of the Great Red Spot. Unlike the GRS, they tend to occur in pairs and are always short-lived, lasting a year on average; one was present during the "Pioneer 10" encounter.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The NEB is one of the most active belts on the planet. It is characterized by anticyclonic white ovals and cyclonic "barges" (also known as "brown ovals"), with the former usually forming farther north than the latter; as in the NTropZ, most of these features are relatively short-lived. Like the South Equatorial Belt (SEB), the NEB has sometimes dramatically faded and "revived". The timescale of these changes is about 25 years.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The Equatorial Region (EZ) is one of the most stable regions of the planet, in latitude and in activity. The northern edge of the EZ hosts spectacular plumes that trail southwest from the NEB, which are bounded by dark, warm (in infrared) features known as festoons (hot spots). Though the southern boundary of the EZ is usually quiescent, observations from the late 19th into the early 20th century show that this pattern was then reversed relative to today. The EZ varies considerably in coloration, from pale to an ochre, or even coppery hue; it is occasionally divided by an Equatorial Band (EB). Features in the EZ move roughly 390 km/h relative to the other latitudes.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The South Tropical Region includes the South Equatorial Belt (SEB) and the South Tropical Zone. It is by far the most active region on the planet, as it is home to its strongest retrograde jet stream. The SEB is usually the broadest, darkest belt on Jupiter; it is sometimes split by a zone (the SEBZ), and can fade entirely every 3 to 15 years before reappearing in what is known as an SEB Revival cycle. A period of weeks or months following the belt's disappearance, a white spot forms and erupts dark brownish material which is stretched into a new belt by Jupiter's winds. The belt most recently disappeared in May 2010. Another characteristic of the SEB is a long train of cyclonic disturbances following the Great Red Spot. Like the NTropZ, the STropZ is one of the most prominent zones on the planet; not only does it contain the GRS, but it is occasionally rent by a South Tropical Disturbance (STropD), a division of the zone that can be very long-lived; the most famous one lasted from 1901 to 1939.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The South Temperate Region, or South Temperate Belt (STB), is yet another dark, prominent belt, more so than the NTB; until March 2000, its most famous features were the long-lived white ovals BC, DE, and FA, which have since merged to form Oval BA ("Red Jr."). The ovals were part of South Temperate Zone, but they extended into STB partially blocking it. The STB has occasionally faded, apparently due to complex interactions between the white ovals and the GRS. The appearance of the South Temperate Zone (STZ)—the zone in which the white ovals originated—is highly variable.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: There are other features on Jupiter that are either temporary or difficult to observe from Earth. The South South Temperate Region is harder to discern even than the NNTR; its detail is subtle and can only be studied well by large telescopes or spacecraft. Many zones and belts are more transient in nature and are not always visible. These include the "Equatorial band" (EB), "North Equatorial belt zone" (NEBZ, a white zone within the belt) and "South Equatorial belt zone" (SEBZ). Belts are also occasionally split by a sudden disturbance. When a disturbance divides a normally singular belt or zone, an "N" or an "S" is added to indicate whether the component is the northern or southern one; e.g., NEB(N) and NEB(S).


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Circulation in Jupiter's atmosphere is markedly different from that in the atmosphere of Earth. The interior of Jupiter is fluid and lacks any solid surface. Therefore, convection may occur throughout the planet's outer molecular envelope. As of 2008, a comprehensive theory of the dynamics of the Jovian atmosphere has not been developed. Any such theory needs to explain the following facts: the existence of narrow stable bands and jets that are symmetric relative to Jupiter's equator, the strong prograde jet observed at the equator, the difference between zones and belts, and the origin and persistence of large vortices such as the Great Red Spot.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The theories regarding the dynamics of the Jovian atmosphere can be broadly divided into two classes: shallow and deep. The former hold that the observed circulation is largely confined to a thin outer (weather) layer of the planet, which overlays the stable interior. The latter hypothesis postulates that the observed atmospheric flows are only a surface manifestation of deeply rooted circulation in the outer molecular envelope of Jupiter. As both theories have their own successes and failures, many planetary scientists think that the true theory will include elements of both models.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The first attempts to explain Jovian atmospheric dynamics date back to the 1960s. They were partly based on terrestrial meteorology, which had become well developed by that time. Those shallow models assumed that the jets on Jupiter are driven by small scale turbulence, which is in turn maintained by moist convection in the outer layer of the atmosphere (above the water clouds). The moist convection is a phenomenon related to the condensation and evaporation of water and is one of the major drivers of terrestrial weather. The production of the jets in this model is related to a well-known property of two dimensional turbulence—the so-called inverse cascade, in which small turbulent structures (vortices) merge to form larger ones. The finite size of the planet means that the cascade can not produce structures larger than some characteristic scale, which for Jupiter is called the Rhines scale. Its existence is connected to production of Rossby waves. This process works as follows: when the largest turbulent structures reach a certain size, the energy begins to flow into Rossby waves instead of larger structures, and the inverse cascade stops. Since on the spherical rapidly rotating planet the dispersion relation of the Rossby waves is anisotropic, the Rhines scale in the direction parallel to the equator is larger than in the direction orthogonal to it. The ultimate result of the process described above is production of large scale elongated structures, which are parallel to the equator. The meridional extent of them appears to match the actual width of jets. Therefore, in shallow models vortices actually feed the jets and should disappear by merging into them.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: While these weather–layer models can successfully explain the existence of a dozen narrow jets, they have serious problems. A glaring failure of the model is the prograde (super-rotating) equatorial jet: with some rare exceptions shallow models produce a strong retrograde (subrotating) jet, contrary to observations. In addition, the jets tend to be unstable and can disappear over time. Shallow models cannot explain how the observed atmospheric flows on Jupiter violate stability criteria. More elaborated multilayer versions of weather–layer models produce more stable circulation, but many problems persist. Meanwhile, the Galileo Probe found that the winds on Jupiter extend well below the water clouds at 5–7 bar and do not show any evidence of decay down to 22 bar pressure level, which implies that circulation in the Jovian atmosphere may in fact be deep.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The deep model was first proposed by Busse in 1976. His model was based on another well-known feature of fluid mechanics, the Taylor–Proudman theorem. It holds that in any fast-rotating barotropic ideal liquid, the flows are organized in a series of cylinders parallel to the rotational axis. The conditions of the theorem are probably met in the fluid Jovian interior. Therefore, the planet's molecular hydrogen mantle may be divided into cylinders, each cylinder having a circulation independent of the others. Those latitudes where the cylinders' outer and inner boundaries intersect with the visible surface of the planet correspond to the jets; the cylinders themselves are observed as zones and belts.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The deep model easily explains the strong prograde jet observed at the equator of Jupiter; the jets it produces are stable and do not obey the 2D stability criterion. However it has major difficulties; it produces a very small number of broad jets, and realistic simulations of 3D flows are not possible as of 2008, meaning that the simplified models used to justify deep circulation may fail to catch important aspects of the fluid dynamics within Jupiter. One model published in 2004 successfully reproduced the Jovian band-jet structure. It assumed that the molecular hydrogen mantle is thinner than in all other models; occupying only the outer 10% of Jupiter's radius. In standard models of the Jovian interior, the mantle comprises the outer 20–30%. The driving of deep circulation is another problem. The deep flows can be caused both by shallow forces (moist convection, for instance) or by deep planet-wide convection that transports heat out of the Jovian interior. Which of these mechanisms is more important is not clear yet.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: As has been known since 1966, Jupiter radiates much more heat than it receives from the Sun. It is estimated that the ratio of the thermal power emitted by the planet to the thermal power absorbed from the Sun is . The internal heat flux from Jupiter is , whereas the total emitted power is . The latter value is approximately equal to one billionth of the total power radiated by the Sun. This excess heat is mainly the primordial heat from the early phases of Jupiter's formation, but may result in part from the precipitation of helium into the core.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The internal heat may be important for the dynamics of the Jovian atmosphere. While Jupiter has a small obliquity of about 3°, and its poles receive much less solar radiation than its equator, the tropospheric temperatures do not change appreciably from the equator to poles. One explanation is that Jupiter's convective interior acts like a thermostat, releasing more heat near the poles than in the equatorial region. This leads to a uniform temperature in the troposphere. While heat is transported from the equator to the poles mainly via the atmosphere on Earth, on Jupiter deep convection equilibrates heat. The convection in the Jovian interior is thought to be driven mainly by the internal heat.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The atmosphere of Jupiter is home to hundreds of vortices—circular rotating structures that, as in the Earth's atmosphere, can be divided into two classes: cyclones and anticyclones. Cyclones rotate in the direction similar to the rotation of the planet (counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern); anticyclones rotate in the reverse direction. However, unlike in the terrestrial atmosphere, anticyclones predominate over cyclones on Jupiter—more than 90% of vortices larger than 2000 km in diameter are anticyclones. The lifetime of Jovian vortices varies from several days to hundreds of years, depending on their size. For instance, the average lifetime of an anticyclone between 1000 and 6000 km in diameter is 1–3 years. Vortices have never been observed in the equatorial region of Jupiter (within 10° of latitude), where they are unstable. As on any rapidly rotating planet, Jupiter's anticyclones are high pressure centers, while cyclones are low pressure.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The anticyclones in Jupiter's atmosphere are always confined within zones, where the wind speed increases in direction from the equator to the poles. They are usually bright and appear as white ovals. They can move in longitude, but stay at approximately the same latitude as they are unable to escape from the confining zone. The wind speeds at their periphery are about 100 m/s. Different anticyclones located in one zone tend to merge when they approach each other. However Jupiter has two anticyclones that are somewhat different from all others. They are the Great Red Spot (GRS) and the Oval BA; the latter formed only in 2000. In contrast to white ovals, these structures are red, arguably due to dredging up of red material from the planet's depths. On Jupiter the anticyclones usually form through merges of smaller structures including convective storms (see below), although large ovals can result from the instability of jets. The latter was observed in 1938–1940, when a few white ovals appeared as a result of instability of the southern temperate zone; they later merged to form Oval BA.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: In contrast to anticyclones, the Jovian cyclones tend to be small, dark and irregular structures. Some of the darker and more regular features are known as brown ovals (or badges). However the existence of a few long–lived large cyclones has been suggested. In addition to compact cyclones, Jupiter has several large irregular filamentary patches, which demonstrate cyclonic rotation. One of them is located to the west of the GRS (in its wake region) in the southern equatorial belt. These patches are called cyclonic regions (CR). The cyclones are always located in the belts and tend to merge when they encounter each other, much like anticyclones.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The deep structure of vortices is not completely clear. They are thought to be relatively thin, as any thickness greater than about 500 km will lead to instability. The large anticyclones are known to extend only a few tens of kilometers above the visible clouds. The early hypothesis that the vortices are deep convective plumes (or convective columns) as of 2008 is not shared by the majority of planetary scientists.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The Great Red Spot (GRS) is a persistent anticyclonic storm, 22° south of Jupiter's equator; observations from Earth establish a minimum storm lifetime of 350 years. A storm was described as a "permanent spot" by Gian Domenico Cassini after observing the feature in July 1665 with his instrument-maker Eustachio Divini. According to a report by Giovanni Battista Riccioli in 1635, Leander Bandtius, whom Riccioli identified as the Abbot of Dunisburgh who possessed an "extraordinary telescope", observed a large spot that he described as "oval, equaling one seventh of Jupiter's diameter at its longest." According to Riccioli, "these features are seldom able to be seen, and then only by a telescope of exceptional quality and magnification". The Great Spot has been nearly continually observed since the 1870s, however.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The GRS rotates counter-clockwise, with a period of about six Earth days or 14 Jovian days. Its dimensions are 24,000–40,000 km east-to-west and 12,000–14,000 km north-to-south. The spot is large enough to contain two or three planets the size of Earth. At the start of 2004, the Great Red Spot had approximately half the longitudinal extent it had a century ago, when it was 40,000 km in diameter. At the present rate of reduction, it could potentially become circular by 2040, although this is unlikely because of the distortion effect of the neighboring jet streams. It is not known how long the spot will last, or whether the change is a result of normal fluctuations.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: According to a study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, between 1996 and 2006 the spot lost 15 percent of its diameter along its major axis. Xylar Asay-Davis, who was on the team that conducted the study, noted that the spot is not disappearing because "velocity is a more robust measurement because the clouds associated with the Red Spot are also strongly influenced by numerous other phenomena in the surrounding atmosphere."


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Infrared data have long indicated that the Great Red Spot is colder (and thus, higher in altitude) than most of the other clouds on the planet; the cloudtops of the GRS are about 8 km above the surrounding clouds. Furthermore, careful tracking of atmospheric features revealed the spot's counterclockwise circulation as far back as 1966 – observations dramatically confirmed by the first time-lapse movies from the "Voyager" flybys. The spot is spatially confined by a modest eastward jet stream (prograde) to its south and a very strong westward (retrograde) one to its north. Though winds around the edge of the spot peak at about 120 m/s (432 km/h), currents inside it seem stagnant, with little inflow or outflow. The rotation period of the spot has decreased with time, perhaps as a direct result of its steady reduction in size. In 2010, astronomers imaged the GRS in the far infrared (from 8.5 to 24 μm) with a spatial resolution higher than ever before and found that its central, reddest region is warmer than its surroundings by between 3–4 K. The warm airmass is located in the upper troposphere in the pressure range of 200–500 mbar. This warm central spot slowly counter-rotates and may be caused by a weak subsidence of air in the center of GRS.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The Great Red Spot's latitude has been stable for the duration of good observational records, typically varying by about a degree. Its longitude, however, is subject to constant variation. Because Jupiter's visible features do not rotate uniformly at all latitudes, astronomers have defined three different systems for defining the longitude. System II is used for latitudes of more than 10°, and was originally based on the average rotation rate of the Great Red Spot of 9h 55m 42s. Despite this, the spot has "lapped" the planet in System II at least 10 times since the early 19th century. Its drift rate has changed dramatically over the years and has been linked to the brightness of the South Equatorial Belt, and the presence or absence of a South Tropical Disturbance.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: It is not known exactly what causes the Great Red Spot's reddish color. Theories supported by laboratory experiments suppose that the color may be caused by complex organic molecules, red phosphorus, or yet another sulfur compound. The GRS varies greatly in hue, from almost brick-red to pale salmon, or even white. The higher temperature of the reddest central region is the first evidence that the Spot's color is affected by environmental factors. The spot occasionally disappears from the visible spectrum, becoming evident only through the Red Spot Hollow, which is its niche in the South Equatorial Belt (SEB). The visibility of GRS is apparently coupled to the appearance of the SEB; when the belt is bright white, the spot tends to be dark, and when it is dark, the spot is usually light. The periods when the spot is dark or light occur at irregular intervals; in the 50 years from 1947 to 1997, the spot was darkest in the periods 1961–1966, 1968–1975, 1989–1990, and 1992–1993. In November 2014, an analysis of data from NASA's Cassini mission revealed that the red color is likely a product of simple chemicals being broken apart by solar ultraviolet irradiation in the planet's upper atmosphere.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The Great Red Spot should not be confused with the Great Dark Spot, a feature observed near Jupiter's north pole (bottom) in 2000 by the "Cassini–Huygens" spacecraft. A feature in the atmosphere of Neptune was also called the Great Dark Spot. The latter feature, imaged by "Voyager 2" in 1989, may have been an atmospheric hole rather than a storm. It was no longer present in 1994, although a similar spot had appeared farther to the north.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Oval BA is a red storm in Jupiter's southern hemisphere similar in form to, though smaller than, the Great Red Spot (it is often affectionately referred to as "Red Spot Jr.", "Red Jr." or "The Little Red Spot"). A feature in the South Temperate Belt, Oval BA was first seen in 2000 after the collision of three small white storms, and has intensified since then.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The formation of the three white oval storms that later merged into Oval BA can be traced to 1939, when the South Temperate Zone was torn by dark features that effectively split the zone into three long sections. Jovian observer Elmer J. Reese labeled the dark sections AB, CD, and EF. The rifts expanded, shrinking the remaining segments of the STZ into the white ovals FA, BC, and DE. Ovals BC and DE merged in 1998, forming Oval BE. Then, in March 2000, BE and FA joined, forming Oval BA. (see White ovals, below)


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Oval BA slowly began to turn red in August 2005. On February 24, 2006, Filipino amateur astronomer Christopher Go discovered the color change, noting that it had reached the same shade as the GRS. As a result, NASA writer Dr. Tony Phillips suggested it be called "Red Spot Jr." or "Red Jr."


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: In April 2006, a team of astronomers, believing that Oval BA might converge with the GRS that year, observed the storms through the Hubble Space Telescope. The storms pass each other about every two years, but the passings of 2002 and 2004 did not produce anything exciting. Dr. Amy Simon-Miller, of the Goddard Space Flight Center, predicted the storms would have their closest passing on July 4, 2006. On July 20, the two storms were photographed passing each other by the Gemini Observatory without converging.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Why Oval BA turned red is not understood. According to a 2008 study by Dr. Santiago Pérez-Hoyos of the University of the Basque Country, the most likely mechanism is "an upward and inward diffusion of either a colored compound or a coating vapor that may interact later with high energy solar photons at the upper levels of Oval BA." Some believe that small storms (and their corresponding white spots) on Jupiter turn red when the winds become powerful enough to draw certain gases from deeper within the atmosphere which change color when those gases are exposed to sunlight.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Oval BA is getting stronger according to observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2007. The wind speeds have reached 618 km/h; about the same as in the Great Red Spot and far stronger than any of the progenitor storms. As of July 2008, its size is about the diameter of Earth—approximately half the size of the Great Red Spot.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Oval BA should not be confused with another major storm on Jupiter, the South Tropical Little Red Spot (LRS) (nicknamed "the Baby Red Spot" by NASA), which was destroyed by the GRS. The new storm, previously a white spot in Hubble images, turned red in May 2008. The observations were led by Imke de Pater of the University of California, at Berkeley, US. The Baby Red Spot encountered the GRS in late June to early July 2008, and in the course of a collision, the smaller red spot was shredded into pieces. The remnants of the Baby Red Spot first orbited, then were later consumed by the GRS. The last of the remnants with a reddish color to have been identified by astronomers had disappeared by mid-July, and the remaining pieces again collided with the GRS, then finally merged with the bigger storm. The remaining pieces of the Baby Red Spot had completely disappeared by August 2008. During this encounter Oval BA was present nearby, but played no apparent role in the destruction of the Baby Red Spot.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The storms on Jupiter are similar to thunderstorms on Earth. They reveal themselves via bright clumpy clouds about 1000 km in size, which appear from time to time in the belts' cyclonic regions, especially within the strong westward (retrograde) jets. In contrast to vortices, storms are short-lived phenomena; the strongest of them may exist for several months, while the average lifetime is only 3–4 days. They are believed to be due mainly to moist convection within Jupiter's troposphere. Storms are actually tall convective columns (plumes), which bring the wet air from the depths to the upper part of the troposphere, where it condenses in clouds. A typical vertical extent of Jovian storms is about 100 km; as they extend from a pressure level of about 5–7 bar, where the base of a hypothetical water cloud layer is located, to as high as 0.2–0.5 bar.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Storms on Jupiter are always associated with lightning. The imaging of the night–side hemisphere of Jupiter by "Galileo" and "Cassini" spacecraft revealed regular light flashes in Jovian belts and near the locations of the westward jets, particularly at 51°N, 56°S and 14°S latitudes. On Jupiter lightning strikes are on average a few times more powerful than those on Earth. However, they are less frequent; the light power emitted from a given area is similar to that on Earth. A few flashes have been detected in polar regions, making Jupiter the second known planet after Earth to exhibit polar lightning. A Microwave Radiometer ("Juno") detected many more in 2018.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Every 15–17 years Jupiter is marked by especially powerful storms. They appear at 23°N latitude, where the strongest eastward jet, that can reach 150 m/s, is located. The last time such an event was observed was in March–June 2007. Two storms appeared in the northern temperate belt 55° apart in longitude. They significantly disturbed the belt. The dark material that was shed by the storms mixed with clouds and changed the belt's color. The storms moved with a speed as high as 170 m/s, slightly faster than the jet itself, hinting at the existence of strong winds deep in the atmosphere.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Other notable features of Jupiter are its cyclones near the northern and southern poles of the planet. These are called circumpolar cyclones (CPCs) and they have been observed by the Juno Spacecraft using JunoCam and JIRAM. The cyclones have now been observed for about 5 years, as Juno completed 39 orbits around Jupiter. The northern pole has eight cyclones moving around a central cyclone (NPC) while the southern pole only has five cyclones around a central cyclone (SPC), with a gap between the first and second cyclones. The cyclones look like the hurricanes on Earth with trailing spiral arms and a denser center, although there are differences between the centers depending on the individual cyclone. Northern CPCs generally maintain their shape and position compared to the southern CPCs and this could be due to the faster wind speeds that are experienced in the south, where the maximum wind velocities are around 80 m/s to 90 m/s. Although there is more movement among the southern CPCs they tend to retain the pentagonal structure relative to the pole. It has also been observed that the angular wind velocity increases as the center is approached and radius becomes smaller, except for one cyclone in the north, which may have rotation in the opposite direction. The difference in the number of cyclones in the north compared to the south is probably due to the size of the cyclones. The southern CPCs tend to be bigger with radii ranging from 5,600 km to 7,000 km while northern CPCs range from 4,000 km to 4,600 km.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The mechanism for the stability of these two symmetric structures of cyclones is an outcome of Beta-drift, a known effect causing cyclones to move poleward and anti-cyclones to move equatorward due to the conservation of momentum along streamlines in a vortex, under the change of the Coriolis parameter. Thus, cyclones forming in the polar regions may congregate at the pole and form a polar cyclone such as those observed on Saturn's poles. The polar cyclone (the central cyclone in the polygons) also emit a vorticity field which can repel other cyclones (see Fujiwhara effect) similar to the beta-effect. The latitude where the circumpolar cyclones are positioned (~84°) fits, in calculations, the hypothesis that the poleward beta-drift force balances the equatorward rejection of the polar cyclone on the circumpolar cyclones, assuming they have an anticyclonic ring around them, consistent with model simulations and observations.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The northern cyclones tend to maintain an octagonal structure with the NPC as a center point. Northern cyclones have less data than southern cyclones because of limited illumination in the north-polar winter, making it difficult for JunoCam to obtain accurate measurements of northern CPC positions at each perijove (53 days), but JIRAM is able to collect enough data to understand the northern CPCs. The limited illumination makes it difficult to see the northern central cyclone, but by making four orbits, the NPC can be partially seen and the octagonal structure of the cyclones can be identified. Limited illumination also makes it difficult to view the motion of the cyclones, but early observations show that the NPC is offset from the pole by about 0.5˚ and the CPCs generally maintained their position around the center. Despite data being harder to obtain, it has been observed that the northern CPCs have a drift rate of about 1˚ to 2.5˚ per perijove to the west. The seventh cyclone in the north (n7) drifts a little more than the others and this is due to an anticyclonic white oval (AWO) that pulls it farther from the NPC, which causes the octagonal shape to be slightly distorted.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The instantanoues locations of the south polar cyclones have been tracked for 5 years by the JIRAM instrument and by JunoCam. The locations over time were revealed to form an oscillatory motion of each of the 6 cyclones, with periods of approximately one (Earth) year and radii of about 400 km. These oscillations around the CPCs' mean positions were explained to be a result of imbalances between the beta-drift, pulling the CPCs toward the pole and the rejection forces that develop due to the interactions between the cyclones, similar to a 6-body spring system. In addition to this periodic motion, the south polar cyclones were observed to drift westward by 7.5±0.7˚ per year. The reason for this drift is still unknown.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The circumpolar cyclones have different morphologies, especially in the north, where cyclones have a "filled" or "chaotic" structure. The inner part of the "chaotic" cyclones have small-scale cloud streaks and flecks. The "filled" cyclones have a sharply-bound, lobate area that is bright white near the edge with a dark inner portion. There are four "filled" cyclones and four "chaotic" cyclones in the north. The southern cyclones all have an extensive fine-scale spiral structure on their outside but they all differ in size and shape. There is very little observation of the cyclones due to low sun angles and a haze that is typically over the atmosphere but what little has been observed shows the cyclones to be a reddish color.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The normal pattern of bands and zones is sometimes disrupted for periods of time. One particular class of disruption are long-lived darkenings of the South Tropical Zone, normally referred to as "South Tropical Disturbances" (STD). The longest lived STD in recorded history was followed from 1901 until 1939, having been first seen by Percy B. Molesworth on February 28, 1901. It took the form of darkening over part of the normally bright South Tropical zone. Several similar disturbances in the South Tropical Zone have been recorded since then.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Some of the most mysterious features in the atmosphere of Jupiter are hot spots. In them, the air is relatively free of clouds and heat can escape from the depths without much absorption. The spots look like bright spots in the infrared images obtained at the wavelength of about 5 μm. They are preferentially located in the belts, although there is a train of prominent hot spots at the northern edge of the Equatorial Zone. The "Galileo" Probe descended into one of those equatorial spots. Each equatorial spot is associated with a bright cloudy plume located to the west of it and reaching up to 10,000 km in size. Hot spots generally have round shapes, although they do not resemble vortices.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The origin of hot spots is not clear. They can be either downdrafts, where the descending air is adiabatically heated and dried or, alternatively, they can be a manifestation of planetary scale waves. The latter hypotheses explains the periodical pattern of the equatorial spots.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: In 1953, Miller Urey experiment proved that the combination of lightning and compounds existing in the primitive Earth's atmosphere can form organic matter (including amino acids), which can be used as the cornerstone of life. The simulated atmosphere consists of water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen molecules; All of these substances are found in today's Jupiter atmosphere. Jupiter's atmosphere has a strong vertical air flow that carries these compounds into lower regions. But there are higher temperatures inside Jupiter, which will decompose these chemicals and hinder the formation of life similar to earth. This was speculated by Carl Sagan and Edwin E. Salpeter.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Early modern astronomers, using small telescopes, recorded the changing appearance of Jupiter's atmosphere. Their descriptive terms—belts and zones, brown spots and red spots, plumes, barges, festoons, and streamers—are still used. Other terms such as vorticity, vertical motion, cloud heights have entered in use later, in the 20th century.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The first observations of the Jovian atmosphere at higher resolution than possible with Earth-based telescopes were taken by the "Pioneer" "10" and "11" spacecraft. The first truly detailed images of Jupiter's atmosphere were provided by the "Voyagers". The two spacecraft were able to image details at a resolution as low as 5 km in size in various spectra, and also able to create "approach movies" of the atmosphere in motion. The Galileo Probe, which suffered an antenna problem, saw less of Jupiter's atmosphere but at a better average resolution and a wider spectral bandwidth.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: Today, astronomers have access to a continuous record of Jupiter's atmospheric activity thanks to telescopes such as Hubble Space Telescope. These show that the atmosphere is occasionally wracked by massive disturbances, but that, overall, it is remarkably stable. The vertical motion of Jupiter's atmosphere was largely determined by the identification of trace gases by ground-based telescopes. Spectroscopic studies after the collision of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 gave a glimpse of the Jupiter's composition beneath the cloud tops. The presence of diatomic sulfur (S) and carbon disulfide (CS) was recorded—the first detection of either in Jupiter, and only the second detection of S in any astronomical object— together with other molecules such as ammonia (NH) and hydrogen sulfide (HS), while oxygen-bearing molecules such as sulfur dioxide were not detected, to the surprise of astronomers.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The "Galileo" atmospheric probe, as it plunged into Jupiter, measured the wind, temperature, composition, clouds, and radiation levels down to 22 bar. However, below 1 bar elsewhere on Jupiter there is uncertainty in the quantities.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The first sighting of the GRS is often credited to Robert Hooke, who described a spot on the planet in May 1664; however, it is likely that Hooke's spot was in the wrong belt altogether (the North Equatorial Belt, versus the current location in the South Equatorial Belt). Much more convincing is Giovanni Cassini's description of a "permanent spot" in the following year. With fluctuations in visibility, Cassini's spot was observed from 1665 to 1713.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: A minor mystery concerns a Jovian spot depicted around 1700 on a canvas by Donato Creti, which is exhibited in the Vatican. It is a part of a series of panels in which different (magnified) heavenly bodies serve as backdrops for various Italian scenes, the creation of all of them overseen by the astronomer Eustachio Manfredi for accuracy. Creti's painting is the first known to depict the GRS as red. No Jovian feature was officially described as red before the late 19th century.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The present GRS was first seen only after 1830 and well-studied only after a prominent apparition in 1879. A 118-year gap separates the observations made after 1830 from its 17th-century discovery; whether the original spot dissipated and re-formed, whether it faded, or even if the observational record was simply poor are unknown. The older spots had a short observational history and slower motion than that of the modern spot, which make their identity unlikely.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: On February 25, 1979, when the "Voyager 1" spacecraft was 9.2 million kilometers from Jupiter it transmitted the first detailed image of the Great Red Spot back to Earth. Cloud details as small as 160 km across were visible. The colorful, wavy cloud pattern seen to the west (left) of the GRS is the spot's wake region, where extraordinarily complex and variable cloud motions are observed.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The white ovals that were to become Oval BA formed in 1939. They covered almost 90 degrees of longitude shortly after their formation, but contracted rapidly during their first decade; their length stabilized at 10 degrees or less after 1965. Although they originated as segments of the STZ, they evolved to become completely embedded in the South Temperate Belt, suggesting that they moved north, "digging" a niche into the STB. Indeed, much like the GRS, their circulations were confined by two opposing jet streams on their northern and southern boundaries, with an eastward jet to their north and a retrograde westward one to the south.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: The longitudinal movement of the ovals seemed to be influenced by two factors: Jupiter's position in its orbit (they became faster at aphelion), and their proximity to the GRS (they accelerated when within 50 degrees of the Spot). The overall trend of the white oval drift rate was deceleration, with a decrease by half between 1940 and 1990.


title: Atmosphere of Jupiter

text: During the "Voyager" fly-bys, the ovals extended roughly 9000 km from east to west, 5000 km from north to south, and rotated every five days (compared to six for the GRS at the time).


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: Halo: The Fall of Reach is a military science fiction novel by Eric Nylund, set in the "Halo" universe, and acts as a prelude to "", the first game in the series. The book was released in October 2001 and is the first "Halo" novel. It takes place in the 26th century across several planets and locations. The novel details the events which led up to the game and explains the origins of the SPARTAN-II supersoldiers, narrating the story of the series protagonist, the Master Chief.


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: "The Fall of Reach" was conceived after Nylund had discussed the possibility of a "Halo" novel with Microsoft's Franchise Development Group. A "Halo Story Bible" was created to assist Nylund in keeping with "Halo" canon. The novel was written in seven weeks, Nylund's shortest writing deadline.


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: The book was well received by critics, who thought it added depth to the plot of the game, but the large number of characters was highlighted as a shortcoming. Going on to sell over one million copies, the success of "The Fall of Reach" paved the way for further Xbox game novelizations, including another book in the "Halo" series. William C. Dietz would write the next book, entitled "". The book was adapted into a comic series entitled "Halo: Fall of Reach", released in 2010. The book itself was re-released on December 7, 2010 after the comic book adaptation and contained new content as well as updating both editing mistakes and minor continuity errors. The novel was also adapted into that was streamed exclusively through the Halo Channel to coincide with the 2015 release of "".


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: Eric Nylund had discussed the possibility of a "Halo"-related novel with Eric Trautmann, a member of Microsoft's Franchise Development Group, before "" was developed, but it was postponed due to legal technicalities. Nylund thought positively of the delay as it "gave [him] a chance to see the game in almost every stage of development before [he] started writing." He wrote the book based on an outline approved by Bungie and the "Halo Story Bible", a book containing all information on the characters and universe in which "Halo" takes place, so that his story would not conflict with other "Halo" publications. Nylund found it easier to write with the "Bible" available as the details of the universe he was writing in were already established, only minor alterations were made to fit the novel into the universe. A seven-week deadline was established for Nylund to write the book. According to Trautmann, the book was nearly canceled because Bungie was opposed to the idea of the Master Chief having a definite backstory. They eventually relented after Trautmann made them the offer that they let the book be completed and published in exchange for him, Matt Soell, and Brannon Boren completing "Combat Evolved"'s script, which was still "80 percent" unfinished.


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: "The Fall of Reach" takes place in the "Halo" universe and spans several decades, beginning in 2517 and describing events up to 2552. In the "Halo" universe, traveling faster than the speed of light is possible through slipspace, another dimension where special relativity does not apply. This has allowed humans to colonize hundreds of other planets which are controlled by the United Nations Space Command (UNSC). Feeling repressed by the UNSC's heavy-handed rule, some colonies revolt; fearing rebellion will tear the UNSC apart, military leaders approve the SPARTAN-II Program, a secret squad of super soldiers designed to quietly suppress rebellion.


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: The protagonist of "The Fall of Reach" is the Spartan soldier Master Chief. Dr. Catherine Halsey, the creator of the SPARTAN-II Project, is introduced alongside then-Lieutenant Jacob Keyes. Franklin Mendez is the trainer of the Spartan II and Spartan III programs, teaching them their physical combat skills while an AI named Déjà teaches them military history and strategy. Cortana, Master Chief's AI companion through much of the series, is also present as Dr. Halsey's aide in the lead-up to the Spartans' mission.


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: The novel opens with the civilian Dr. Catherine Halsey and Lieutenant Jacob Keyes traveling to meet John, a six-year-old boy. Dr. Halsey reveals to Keyes that John is one of 150 children who possess rare genetic markers making them suitable for conscription into the SPARTAN-II program, a secret experiment with the aim of creating super soldiers for the UNSC to quell rebellions. Seventy-five of the children are kidnapped by operatives of the Office of Naval Intelligence and replaced by clones engineered to die of natural causes shortly thereafter. From this point on, the recruits are known only by their first name and a three-digit number. John-117 and the rest of the children are drilled and trained by Franklin Mendez; John demonstrates leadership of his fellow Spartans, leading to his promotion to squad leader. In 2525, the Spartans undergo a series of surgical enhancements which turn them into highly efficient super soldiers - but more than half of the original 75 conscripts are paralyzed or killed. The Spartans are also equipped with powerful MJOLNIR battle armor, designed to respond as quickly as the soldier's thoughts. John-117 is further promoted to Master Chief Petty Officer. The Spartans are highly successful, but they experience a priority shift after a collective of alien races known as the Covenant begin obliterating human colonies, declaring humanity's destruction as the will of their gods. Mendez leaves the group to train the next generation of Spartans as John and his comrades first face the Covenant.


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: By 2552, the war against the Covenant is going poorly. The technological superiority of the Covenant means that space battles heavily favor the Covenant, and the UNSC can only win engagements by suffering tremendous losses. To prevent the discovery of Earth or other human colonies, Vice Admiral Cole creates the "Cole Protocol", which forbids direct slipspace jumps to Earth or any other population center, and mandates the destruction of a ship before it can be captured by the Covenant. Jacob Keyes, now commander of the destroyer "Iroquois", discovers four Covenant ships arriving at the Sigma Octanus System, and single-handedly destroys three of them; his heroics earn Keyes the rank of captain. The Covenant proceed to overrun Sigma Octanus IV, searching for a mysterious ancient artifact. Despite a costly fight, the humans manage to repel the Covenant, and Keyes intercepts a coded Covenant transmission from the surface before the Covenant retreat. The "Iroquois" heads to Reach, unwittingly bringing a Covenant tracking device with it.


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: Soon after, Keyes is given the command of the UNSC cruiser "Pillar of Autumn" for a secret mission: the Spartans are to capture one of the Covenant's religious leaders and barter a truce. Dr. Halsey also introduces John to the artificial intelligence Cortana, who would assist the Spartans by residing in their MJOLNIR armor. Before the mission can begin, however, Reach is attacked by a massive Covenant fleet. John and Cortana reach the "Pillar of Autumn", but most of the other Spartans are presumed killed as the Covenant vitrify the surface of Reach, turning the landmasses into glass. Cortana initiates a slipspace course based on the ancient glyphs intercepted by the Covenant at Sigma Octanus; the course takes them to a massive ringworld known as Halo, setting the stage for the events of "".


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: Critical reaction to the book was positive, particularly regarding the depth the book added to the "Halo" universe. Reviewer Eric Qualls commented that "[it was] interesting to read and give[s] you a much greater understanding" of the universe. Qualls made a positive comparison to Robert A. Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" regarding the manner of story telling. GameCritics' Brad Gallaway also praised the back-story the book adds and the quality of the story. Fellow reviewer Gene Park noted the descriptions in the book went beyond what was presented in the game, calling them "vibrant and rousing." He also complimented the characters presented in the novel, saying they all "fit nicely into the "Halo" universe" but some times there were too many characters to remember. Sal Accardo of "3D Action Planet" said of the book: "it isn’t going to win any Pulitzers anytime soon. It’s well written, and a solid page-turner, but it’s still basically an action movie presented in book form" but praised the gritty presentation of the Spartans. Don D'Ammasa of the "Science Fiction Chronicle" called the book "competently written", but stated the plot was "simpleminded".


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: Though the book originally sold very slowly, it became a "Publishers Weekly" bestseller. "The Fall of Reach" would go on to sell more than 100,000 copies by 2003 and a million copies by December 2009. The novel's success convinced Microsoft and Del Rey to pen a three-novel publishing contract for novels based on Xbox games, including another "Halo" novel. The next entry in the "Halo" novel franchise would be 2003's "", written by William C. Dietz. The more human Chief seen in the novel led Bungie to tone down the character model in "Halo 2" to make him less an exaggerated robot and more a real person inside a suit.


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: Stuart Beattie, the screenwriter of "", wrote a spec script for a "Fall of Reach" movie. Beattie, a "Halo" fan, wrote the script between other projects in the hope that someone would read it and agree to produce the film, but as of May 2008 there were no plans to do so.


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: In May 2010, Tor announced that the first three "Halo" novels (not originally published by Tor) would be rereleased with new content and cover art. "The Fall of Reach" was the first novel to be reissued, with a release date of August 2010.


title: Halo: The Fall of Reach

text: Marvel Comics adapted the story into a three-part comic series entitled "Halo: Fall of Reach", released September 2010. The book was later adapted into a 2015 3D animated miniseries. The series was produced by Sequence, a Vancouver-based animation studio, and released in conjunction with "". The game "" largely ignored the canon established in the book.


title: Ecocriticism

text: Ecocriticism is the study of literature and ecology from an interdisciplinary point of view, where literature scholars analyze texts that illustrate environmental concerns and examine the various ways literature treats the subject of nature. It was first originated by Joseph Meeker as an idea called “literary ecology” in his "The Comedy of Survival: Studies in Literary Ecology ("1972). The term 'ecocriticism' was coined in 1978 by William Rueckert in his essay "Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism".


title: Ecocriticism

text: It takes an interdisciplinary point of view by analyzing the works of authors, researchers and poets in the context of environmental issues and nature. Some ecocritics brainstorm possible solutions for the correction of the contemporary environmental situation, though not all ecocritics agree on the purpose, methodology, or scope of ecocriticism.


title: Ecocriticism

text: In the United States, ecocriticism is often associated with the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE), which hosts a biennial conference for scholars who deal with environmental matters in literature and the environmental humanities in general. ASLE publishes a journal—"Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment" ("ISLE")—in which current international scholarship can be found.


title: Ecocriticism

text: Ecocriticism is an intentionally broad approach that is known by a number of other designations, including "green (cultural) studies", "ecopoetics", and "environmental literary criticism", and is often informed by other fields such as ecology, sustainable design, biopolitics, environmental history, environmentalism, and social ecology, among others


title: Ecocriticism

text: In comparison with other 'political' forms of criticism, there has been relatively little dispute about the moral and philosophical aims of ecocriticism, although its scope has broadened from nature writing, romantic poetry, and canonical literature to take in film, television, theatre, animal stories, architectures, scientific narratives and an extraordinary range of literary texts. At the same time, ecocriticism has borrowed methodologies and theoretically informed approaches liberally from other fields of literary, social and scientific study.


title: Ecocriticism

text: Cheryll Glotfelty's working definition in "The Ecocriticism Reader" is that "ecocriticism is the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment", and one of the implicit goals of the approach is to recoup professional dignity for what Glotfelty calls the "undervalued genre of nature writing". Lawrence Buell defines "'ecocriticism' ... as [a] study of the relationship between literature and the environment conducted in a spirit of commitment to environmentalist praxis".


title: Ecocriticism

text: Simon Estok noted in 2001 that "ecocriticism has distinguished itself, debates notwithstanding, firstly by the ethical stand it takes, its commitment to the natural world as an important thing rather than simply as an object of thematic study, and, secondly, by its commitment to making connections".


title: Ecocriticism

text: More recently, in an article that extends ecocriticism to Shakespearean studies, Estok argues that ecocriticism is more than "simply the study of Nature or natural things in literature; rather, it is any theory that is committed to effecting change by analyzing the function–thematic, artistic, social, historical, ideological, theoretical, or otherwise–of the natural environment, or aspects of it, represented in documents (literary or other) that contribute to material practices in material worlds". This echoes the functional approach of the cultural ecology branch of ecocriticism, which analyzes the analogies between ecosystems and imaginative texts and posits that such texts potentially have an ecological (regenerative, revitalizing) function in the cultural system.