Response of the Jovian thermosphere to variations in solar EUV flux

Abstract

AbstractExamining the response to solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation is an established diagnostic method used to understand the physics of planetary environments. In this study, we focus on the response of the Jovian thermosphere to variations in the solar EUV flux and discuss the consequences for the coupled thermosphere‐ionosphere‐magnetosphere system. We use a model that simulates both the thermospheric dynamics and the magnetospheric plasma velocity distribution under conditions of angular momentum transport between these regions. The simulations show that when the EUV flux increases by ~100% and 200%, the thermospheric neutral wind velocity at ~45° latitude increases by 16% and 22%, respectively. The short‐term variation over a few Earth days causes an increased velocity at middle latitudes which are magnetically conjugate to the Jovian radiation belt. Increased heating due to solar EUV contributes to this velocity change. The other contribution arises ~30 planetary rotations after the initial solar EUV flux increase. This second (“delayed”) effect is due to propagation of momentum from high latitudes (the auroral region), where Joule heating is dominant, and is related to the behavior of the ionospheric conductance and magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling currents. The modeled velocity enhancement is smaller than that required to explain the observed enhancement of the synchrotron emission by radial diffusion of the trapped energetic electrons. In this context, we discuss the sensitivity of the underlying thermosphere‐ionosphere response to short‐wavelength solar radiation and the ensuing three‐dimensional wind fields.