Noise Character Constraints on Passive Radio Sounding of Jupiter's Icy Moons Using Jovian Decametric Radiation

Abstract

Jupiter is one of the Solar System's most powerful source of radio waves in the MHz range. Very recent studies proposed that Jovian Decametric Radiation can be effectively exploited for probing the subsurface of Jupiter's icy moons Europa and Ganymede by using passive radio sounding. However, these studies results were based on the assumption that the Jovian noise is white and stationary. Therefore additional investigation into the temporal stability, predictability, and spectral properties of Jovian noise are required to fully assess the potential of passive radar sounding. In this paper, we investigate the actual spectral structure, temporal occurrence and general characteristics of the Jovian Decametric Radiation for understanding their impact on the radar sounding performance metrics. This is done by analyzing the recently available Jupiter's radio spectra acquired by JUNO Waves. The results show that the Jovian Decametric Radiation (i) is not perfectly white and some performance deterioration in the range response should be expected and (ii) has a varying temporal occurrence versus probing frequency.