Measurements of the rotation rate of the jovian mid-to-low latitude ionosphere

作者：Johnson Rosie E^*; Stallard Tom S; Melin Henrik; Miller Steve; Nichols Jonathan D

来源：Icarus, 2016, 280: 249-254.

DOI：10.1016/j.icarus.2016.06.026

• Jupiter, atmospheres
• Ionosphere
• Infrared observations
• Spectroscopy

Previous studies of Jupiter's upper atmosphere often assume that the mid-to-low latitude ionosphere is corotating, but a model describing an observed asymmetry in hydrogen Lyman-alpha emission (similar to 1000 km above the 1 bar level) disagrees with this assumption. From measurements of the Doppler shifted H-3(+) v(2) Q(1, 0(-)) line at 3.953 mu m using the IRTF, the line-of-sight velocities of the H-3(+) ions were derived in the planetary reference frame and found to be 0.091 +/- 0.25 km s(-1), 0.0082 +/- 0.30 km s(-1) and 0.31 +/- 0.51 km s(-1) in 1998, 2007 and 2013 respectively. These zero velocities represent corotation at the mid to-low latitude region of Jupiter's ionosphere. There is no evidence of flows associated with the hydrogen Lyman-alpha emission asymmetries detected in the peak H-3(+) emission layer (similar to 550 km above the 1 bar level), and we assert that the H-3(+) ions in Jupiter's mid-to-low latitude are rigidly corotating.

• 出版日期2016-12