Imaginary part of the refractive index of aerosol in latitudinal belts of Jupiter’s disc

Abstract

The values of the imaginary part of the refractive index n_i of aerosol in bright (EZ, NTrZ, and STrZ) and dark (NTB, NEB, SEB, and STB) latitudinal bands of Jupiter’s disc have been determined. They are averaged over the effective depth where the intensity of radiation diffusely reflected by the planet is formed. These values turned out to be lower in the zones than in the belts: specifically, 0.00017–0.00041 vs. 0.00063–0.00098, 0.00019–0.00041 vs. 0.00065–0.00097, 0.00017–0.00041 vs. 0.00070–0.00112, and 0.00019–0.00044 vs. 0.00069–0.00111 at λ = 605, 631, 714, and 742 nm, respectively. These results probably indicate the difference in the vertical stratification of the nature of cloud layers, as well as in the sizes of aerosol particles (they are larger in the belts).