MULTIFRACTAL ANALYSIS OF THE ATMOSPHERIC STRUCTURE OF JUPITER

Abstract

This study represents a new direction in the analysis of photographic images of the atmosphere of Jupiter. The method of the theory of dynamic chaos-multifractal analysis for the description of the structure of the atmospheric currents of Jupiter was first used in the work. The objects of the study were images of the atmosphere of Jupiter made by the astronomer Christopher Guo. A total of 819 photographs were taken for the period from June 1997 to December 2015. To analyze the structures of the belts and zones of the Jupiter atmosphere, multifractal and metric characteristics were calculated for each image, multifractal spectra and entropy diagrams were constructed. As a result of the study, a decrease in the entropy of the self-similarity of the images of the Jovian atmosphere calculated through the multifractal spectrum was revealed, and an increase in the two-dimensional shape coefficient over the period from 1997 to 2015 when data were analyzed with a bias of 12 years. Also, when examining the average monthly entropy values ​​of self-similarity and the two-dimensional shape coefficient in different years, periods of time were found in which the trend of the characteristics changes. The method of investigation presented in this work makes it possible to make a quantitative description and to reveal regularities in the changes in the structures of the atmosphere of Jupiter.

Keywords: dynamic chaos, multifractal analysis, entropy, fractals.