Abstract

Models of Jupiter's radiation belts have been constructed to determine the distribution of particles and their energies which will produce the observed decimetric radio emission. Data on the spectrum and the variation of emission with Jovian longitude have been used to show that the relativistic particles have a nearly isotropic distribution with high energies (of order 100 MeV) within 2 Jovian radii and a very flat distribution in the equatorial plane of low energy particles further out in the magnetosphere.Subtraction of the emission predicted by this model from the total radio emission shows that the thermal contribution in the frequency range between 3000 and 10000 MHz is somewhat less than had been previously expected. (The brightness temperature of the planetary disk is 180 K at 3000 MHz, for example.) This suggests that the ammonia mixing ratio in Jupiter's upper atmosphere may be as high as 0.002.

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