TEMPERATURE ANISOTROPY OF THE JOVIAN SULFUR NEBULA

We discuss the apparent paradox between the reported observation of a 3-eV gyration energy of Jupiter's ionized sulfur nebula and its observed thickness. We present an observation of the thickness of the cloud taken nearly edge on and show that this implies a large bounce-averaged anisotropy of the sulfur in temperature, T{norm of matrix} ≫ T⊥. From these observations, we construct a self-consistent model of the sulfur nebula in which the sulfur ions are injected by Io as ions and remain sufficiently collisionless in the magnetosphere to maintain the anisotropy for a time longer than a characteristic diffusion time. We also show that the proton-electron plasma is collisionally thermalized and provides an adequate means of tapping the rotational energy of the planet to provide the power radiated in the sulfur lines. © 1979.