Response of Jupiter's UV auroras to interplanetary conditions as observed by the Hubble Space Telescope during the Cassini flyby campaign

Abstract

We provide a first detailed discussion of the relation between the set of Jovian UV auroral images observed by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in December 2000 to January 2001 and simultaneous interplanetary data obtained by Cassini during its Jupiter flyby. Examination of the interplanetary data surrounding all seven HST observation intervals shows that by chance six of them correspond to solar wind rarefaction regions, which follow compressions by periods of ∼2 to ∼6 days. Only one imaging interval, on 13 January 2001, corresponds to a compression region of generally elevated, but highly variable, solar wind dynamic pressure and interplanetary field strength. We have thus first examined the images corresponding to rarefaction regions in order to establish the range of behaviors that occur under these known conditions, which then act as a benchmark against which the compression region images can be compared. The rarefaction region images show relatively consistent properties of the main oval auroras, though differing in detail from interval to interval. The polar auroras show more variability, with the patchy (“swirl”) auroras in the central region sometimes forming a diffuse ring structure and at other times being more uniformly distributed, while the “active region” auroras at dusk vary markedly from weak emissions to bright arc‐like forms, the latter possibly being associated with intervals within ∼2–3 days of a previous solar wind compression. The two images obtained in the compression region on 13 January 2001 then show remarkably different properties in all the auroral components. The main oval is found to be brighter over its whole length by factors of two to three compared with the rarefaction region images, while its position remains essentially unchanged, close to the usual reference oval. However, bright contiguous “active region” auroras in the postnoon and dusk sector then widen the overall auroral distribution in that sector by up to ∼5° in the poleward direction. The region of patchy polar auroras is also found to expand to cover essentially the whole of the remaining area of the polar cap, with a much‐narrowed darker zone just poleward of the main oval in the dawn and prenoon sector. We discuss whether these enhanced emissions are characteristic of the few‐day compression region as a whole or of more localized conditions occurring within the compression region and conclude that the latter is more likely. Examination of the relevant interplanetary data then shows that the brightened images are associated with an interval of significant magnetospheric dynamics, involving a modest compression of the magnetosphere followed by an extended major expansion.