Numerical simulation of fine structure in the Io plasma torus produced by the centrifugal interchange instability

Abstract

The Io plasma torus as a whole has a radial width scale ∼1 RJ, much larger than the width of the localized Io plasma source (∼1 RIo ≈ RJ/39). One of the most prominent features of the Io torus observed by the Voyager spacecraft and Earth‐based instruments is the “ribbon” structure near Io's orbit. The stability properties of this narrower ribbon structure embedded within the larger torus have been investigated by the Rice Convection Model for Jupiter. Four initial plasma distributions having different radial widths are each represented by 82 longitudinally symmetric edges establishing 41 levels of the flux tube mass content η with the peak η value at Io's orbit. The same initial perturbation is put on each of these edges and is subjected to centrifugal interchange. Our simulations produce regularly spaced long, thin fingers moving outward from the outer edges. It is shown that the azimuthal width of the interchange convection cells (the distance between outflowing fingers in the nonlinear stage of development) is proportional to the radial width scale of the initial distribution that produced them. The constant of proportionality is ≈0.5. Since the exponential growth rate is essentially proportional to the azimuthal wave number of the disturbance and hence is inversely proportional to its azimuthal width, the ribbon‐scale interchange structures grow faster than torus‐scale interchange structures.