Statistical analysis of 26 yr of observations of decametric radio emissions from Jupiter

Abstract

Jupiter is a complex and at the same time very powerful radio source in the decameter wavelength range. The emission is anisotropic, intrinsically variable at millisecond to hour timescales, and also modulated by various external processes at much longer periods, ranging from ~10 h to months or years (including Jovian day and year, solar activity and solar wind variations, and for ground-based observations, terrestrial day and year). As a consequence, long-term observations and their statistical study have proved to be necessary for disentangling and understanding the observed phenomena. We have built a database from the available 26 yr of systematic, daily observations conducted at the Nançay Decameter Array and recorded in digital format. This database contains all observed Jovian decametric emissions, classified with respect to the time-frequency morphology, their dominant circular polarization, and maximum frequency. We present the results of the first statistical analysis of this database. We confirm the earlier classification of Jovian decameter emissions in Io-A, -A′, -B, -C, -D and non-Io-A, -B, -C types, but we also introduce new emission types (Io-A′′ and Io-B′) and precise and characterize the non-Io-D type. We determine the contours of all emission types in the CML− ΦIo plane (Central Meridian Longitude in Jupiter’s System III coordinates versus Io Phase), provide representative examples of their typical time-frequency patterns, and the distribution of emission’s maximum frequency as a function of ΛIo (Io’s Longitude). Finally, we present a statistical analysis of the distributions of the occurrence rate, duration, intensity and polarization for each emission type. non-Io-DAM appears to be related to small-scale, possibly bursty auroral structures.