Observations of spatial and temporal variations of the Jovian H2 quadrupole lines

High resolution scans have been made of the Jovian H2 4-0 S(1) line at 6367.75 A and the 3-0 S(1) line at 8150.67 A, in an attempt to establish improved equivalent widths and to measure any spatial-temporal variations across the disc. Preliminary analysis indicates that temporal changes in the 3-0 S(1) line can be as large as about 40% over a period of about a week; furthermore, this line is systematically weaker at the limb (about 10%) and stronger at the poles (about 20%) than it is at the center of the disc. The 4-0 S(1) line shows very little temporal change, but does have a similar center to limb variation. Current theoretical models of line formation and cloud structure on Jupiter are not able to explain the observed variations although it is clear that some sort of two-layer model is necessary. (Auth.)