Publication Date:
2019-08-28
Description:
We outline for the first time the effect of such nonthermal line broadening processes as turbulence, random waves, convection, etc., on the shape and intensity of the H Ly-alpha line resonance scattered from the atmosphere of Jupiter. We show how a nonthermal velocity field confined to the bulge region, in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, may account for most of the H Ly-alpha bulge features. Both the shape and the brightness of the Ly-alpha line from the bulge region as reported by the IUE instrument and the Voyager UV Spectrometer can be recovered assuming resonant scattering with a total atomic hydrogen of about 4 x 10 exp 17/sq cm, and a nonthermal component H of about 2 x 10 exp 15/sq cm above the thermopause.
Keywords:
LUNAR AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION
Type:
Geophysical Research Letters (ISSN 0094-8276); 20; 8; p. 747-750.
Format:
text
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