Jovian Magnetosphere Research Articles

Dust Acoustic Dressed Solitons in Jovian Magnetosphere

In this investigation, the evolution of dust acoustic solitons (DASs) and dust acoustic dressed solitons (DADSs) have been examined in the Jovian magnetosphere. A five components plasma in which positive dust grains interact with solar wind protons, superthermally distributed electrons, ions as well as solar wind electrons is considered to explore the formation of different kinds of nonlinear structures in the Jovian magnetosphere. The Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) and inhomogenous KdV-type equations encompassing the higher-order (HO) nonlinear and dispersion (N&D) effects are derived by employing the reductive perturbation technique (RPT). With the incorporation of HO effects, a new kind of DADSs are evolved. The influence of various plasma parameters viz., superthermality of ions as well as electrons, temperature, and concentration of different species on the salient features of DASs and DADSs has been encapsulated. The findings of this work may be useful to elucidate the formation of nonlinear dust acoustic coherent structures in the Jovian magnetosphere.

Evidence of Alfvénic Activity in Jupiter's Mid‐To‐High Latitude Magnetosphere

AbstractUsing a combination of Juno magnetometer and plasma data, we show evidence of Alfvénic turbulence within the mid‐to‐high latitude magnetosphere with sufficient conditions to trigger auroral particle acceleration. We analyze 12 events that, in agreement with theoretical results, are found to be dissipative at the electron inertial scale. Furthermore, these events contain significant Poynting flux in the range ∼0.8–20 mW/m2 at ionospheric altitudes. This is sufficient to generate auroral emissions. We confirm that such events are incompressible, confirming their Alfvénicity, occur at dissipative scales, have intermittent features present and are multifractal in nature. These results illustrate the importance of turbulence in the mid‐to‐high latitudes of Jupiter's magnetosphere as a driver of particle acceleration.

Water-Group Pickup Ions From Europa-Genic Neutrals Orbiting Jupiter.

Water‐group gas continuously escapes from Jupiter's icy moons to form co‐orbiting populations of particles or neutral toroidal clouds. These clouds provide insights into their source moons as they reveal loss processes and compositions of their parent bodies, alter local plasma composition, and act as sources and sinks for magnetospheric particles. We report the first observations of H2 + pickup ions in Jupiter's magnetosphere from 13 to 18 Jovian radii and find a density ratio of H2 +/H+ = 8 ± 4%, confirming the presence of a neutral H2 toroidal cloud. Pickup ion densities monotonically decrease radially beyond 13 R J consistent with an advecting Europa‐genic toroidal cloud source. From these observations, we derive a total H2 neutral loss rate from Europa of 1.2 ± 0.7 kg s−1. This provides the most direct estimate of Europa's H2 neutral loss rate to date and underscores the importance of both ion composition and neutral toroidal clouds in understanding satellite‐magnetosphere interactions.

Loss of Energetic Ions Comprising the Ring Current Populations of Jupiter's Middle and Inner Magnetosphere

AbstractThe low‐altitude, polar orbit of the Juno mission allows the Jupiter Energetic Particle Detector Instrument to view into, and resolve, the loss cone of energetic ions comprising the low‐altitude extension of Jupiter's ring current ions. For regions mapping from just inside Ganymede's orbit to well beyond Ganymede's orbit, energetic ions (>50 keV H+ and >130 keV Oxygen and Sulfur ions) are strongly scattered into the loss cone and lost to the magnetosphere at the “strong diffusion limit” at essentially all times. We conclude, by arguing against magnetic curvature scattering, that the cause is waves, perhaps associated with Alfvénic variations previously documented in this equatorial region. Scattering is generally weak or nonexistent near the orbits of the moons Europa and Io, except for the regions just downstream of the corotating plasmas. For Io, we sometimes observe moderate, but not saturated, scattering within roughly 60° downstream. Significantly, scattering is weak or nonexistent just upstream of Io's position, an asymmetry echoed in some previous wave observations. A preliminary accounting of the total (longitude‐averaged) scattering losses near Io's orbit yields loss rates of order 4%–5% of the strong diffusion limit for H+ and 5%–7% for heavy ions (O + S). We conclude that near Io's orbit, charge exchange losses likely dominate over scattering losses for heavy ions and for the lower energy H+ ions (roughly <200 keV).

Callisto's Atmosphere and Its Space Environment: Prospects for the Particle Environment Package on Board JUICE

AbstractThe JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) of the European Space Agency will investigate Jupiter and its icy moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, with the aim to better understand the origin and evolution of our Solar System and the emergence of habitable worlds around gas giants. The Particle Environment Package (PEP) on board JUICE is designed to measure neutrals and ions and electrons at thermal, suprathermal, and radiation belt energies (eV to MeV). In the vicinity of Callisto, PEP will characterize the plasma environment, the outer parts of Callisto's atmosphere and ionosphere and their interaction with Jupiter's dynamic magnetosphere. Roughly 20 Callisto flybys with closest approaches between 200 and 5,000 km altitude are planned over the course of the JUICE mission. In this article, we review the state of the art regarding Callisto's ambient environment and magnetospheric interaction with recent modeling efforts for Callisto's atmosphere and ionosphere. Based on this review, we identify science opportunities for the PEP observations to optimize scientific insight gained from the foreseen JUICE flybys. These considerations will inform both science operation planning of PEP and JUICE and they will guide future model development for Callisto's atmosphere, ionosphere, and their interaction with the plasma environment.

Alternating Emission Features in Io's Footprint Tail: Magnetohydrodynamical Simulations of Possible Causes

AbstractIo's movement relative to the plasma in Jupiter's magnetosphere creates Alfvén waves propagating along the magnetic field lines which are partially reflected along their path. These waves are the root cause for auroral emission, which is subdivided into the Io Footprint (IFP), its tail and leading spot. New observations of the Juno spacecraft by Mura et al. (2018, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat1450) have shown puzzling substructure of the footprint and its tail. In these observations, the symmetry between the poleward and equatorward part of the footprint tail is broken and the tail spots are alternatingly displaced. We show that the location of these bright spots in the tail are consistent with Alfvén waves reflected at the boundary of the Io torus and Jupiter's ionosphere. Then, we investigate three different mechanisms to explain this phenomenon: (a) The Hall effect in Io's ionosphere, (b) travel time differences of Alfvén waves between Io's Jupiter facing and its opposing side and (c) asymmetries in Io's atmosphere. For that, we use magnetohydrodynamic simulations within an idealized geometry of the system. We use the Poynting flux near the Jovian ionosphere as a proxy for the morphology of the generated footprint and its tail. We find that the Hall effect is the most important mechanism under consideration to break the symmetry causing the “Alternating Alfvén spot street.” The travel time differences contributes to enhance this effect. We find no evidence that the inhomogeneities in Io's atmosphere contribute significantly to the location or shape of the tail spots.

Loss of energetic ions comprising the ring current populations of Jupiter's middle and inner magnetosphere

Loss of energetic ions comprising the ring current populations of Jupiter's middle and inner magnetosphere

Properties of Ion-Inertial Scale Plasmoids Observed by the Juno Spacecraft in the Jovian Magnetotail.

We expand on previous observations of magnetic reconnection in Jupiter's magnetosphere by constructing a survey of ion‐inertial scale plasmoids in the Jovian magnetotail. We developed an automated detection algorithm to identify reversals in the Bθ component and performed the minimum variance analysis for each identified plasmoid to characterize its helical structure. The magnetic field observations were complemented by data collected using the Juno Waves instrument, which is used to estimate the total electron density, and the JEDI energetic particle detectors. We identified 87 plasmoids with “peak‐to‐peak” durations between 10 and 300 s. Thirty‐one plasmoids possessed a core field and were classified as flux‐ropes. The other 56 plasmoids had minimum field strength at their centers and were termed O‐lines. Out of the 87 plasmoids, 58 had in situ signatures shorter than 60 s, despite the algorithm's upper limit being 300 s, suggesting that smaller plasmoids with shorter durations were more likely to be detected by Juno. We estimate the diameter of these plasmoids assuming a circular cross section and a travel speed equal to the Alfven speed in the surrounding lobes. Using the electron density inferred by Waves, we contend that these plasmoid diameters were within an order of the local ion‐inertial length. Our results demonstrate that magnetic reconnection in the Jovian magnetotail occurs at ion scales like in other space environments. We show that ion‐scale plasmoids would need to be released every 0.1 s or less to match the canonical 1 ton/s rate of plasma production due to Io.

Observational evidence of ring current in the magnetosphere of Mercury

The magnetic gradient and curvature drift of energetic ions can form a longitudinal electric current around a planet known as the ring current, that has been observed in the intrinsic magnetospheres of Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn. However, there is still a lack of observational evidence of ring current in Mercury’s magnetosphere, which has a significantly weaker dipole magnetic field. Under such conditions, charged particles are thought to be efficiently lost through magnetopause shadowing and/or directly impact the planetary surface. Here, we present the observational evidence of Mercury’s ring current by analysing particle measurements from MErcury Surface, Space Environment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. The ring current is bifurcated because of the dayside off-equatorial magnetic minima. Test-particle simulation with Mercury’s dynamic magnetospheric magnetic field model (KT17 model) validates this morphology. The ring current energy exceeds 5times {10}^{10} J during active times, indicating that magnetic storms may also occur on Mercury.

Relaxation of multi-ion plasmas in an internal conductor

The possibility of the formation and characteristics of the relaxed structures in the multi-ion magnetized plasmas consisting of heavy ions, light ions, and inertia-less electrons have been explored. Using the vortex dynamic equations with the current density, the system is relaxed to triple Beltrami states. Solutions of the relaxed states are determined in two different cases: (i) simple slab geometry and (ii) slab geometry with an internal conductor. The impact of Beltrami parameters and density ratios of the plasma components on the formation of equilibrium structures in both geometries has been studied. Moreover, we also highlight the equivalences of both geometries (simple slab geometry and a slab geometry with an internal conductor). This investigation will be useful for studying and understanding the relaxed structures in different astrophysical objects such as solar wind, Earth’s ionosphere, near-Earth plasmasheet, upper ionosphere, and Saturn and in the laboratory plasmas having two positively charged ions of different masses. Moreover, this work will be helpful in describing the underlying physics of the relaxed structures. These structures are developed in different astrophysical bodies that revolve around the planet such as Jupiter magnetosphere.

A Turbulent Heating Model Combining Diffusion and Advection Effects for Giant Planet Magnetospheres

AbstractThe temperatures of ions in the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn were observed to increase substantially from about 10 to 30 planet radii. Different heating mechanisms have been proposed to explain such observations, including a heating model for Jupiter based on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence with flux‐tube diffusion. More recently, an MHD turbulent heating model based on advection was shown to also explain the temperature increase at Jupiter and Saturn. We further develop this turbulent heating model by combining effects from both diffusion and advection. The combined model resolves the physical consistency requirement that diffusion should dominate over advection when the radial flow velocity is small and vice versa when it is large. Comparisons with observations show that previous agreements, using the advection only model, are still valid for larger radial distance. Moreover, the additional heating by diffusion results in a better agreement with the temperature observations for smaller radial distance.

Theory of Power Generation From Spacecraft Charging

Space plasmas, though tenuous, can lead to the development of large magnitude potentials on spacecraft surfaces relative to the ambient plasma in a process known as spacecraft charging. This effect poses a threat to spacecraft when surfaces charge differentially as it increases the risk of electrical arcing. Spacecraft engineers have primarily focused on the mitigation of charging and not its exploitation. The potentials and current collected by the spacecraft present an opportunity to harvest power from the space environment. Although the current density and floating potential due to incident charged species in the orbit-motion-limited model are identical for all spacecraft surfaces with similar geometries, material property differences between surfaces or charge control devices break the symmetry and allow for net current to flow. Differences in the secondary electron yield, in particular, produce strong differences in floating potential even when the spacecraft is eclipsed or far from the sun. This article presents a theory for computing the power available to harvest from spacecraft charging given the parameters of ambient space plasmas and surface material properties. Given a load connecting two differentially charged surfaces, optimal power is harvested by matching the load resistance to the input plasma impedance. While this holds for any model of the ambient plasma, the orbit-motion-limited theory yields closed-form solutions to the charging equations for spherical and planar surfaces. These solutions provide an upper bound on generated power that scales with the density and temperature of the cold electron population. An environment-specific optimal anode-to-cathode area ratio exists that minimizes the input impedance to the harvesting circuit. Deployable anodes are recommended to satisfy this condition and increase the amount of power harvested. Energy harvesting from spacecraft charging can be used in the Jovian magnetosphere to generate on the order of 10 mW/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> of power.

An empirical model of the current sheet in Jupiter's magnetosphere

Based on the Magnetometer data from the Galileo and Juno mission, we construct an analytical ring current model that provides the azimuthal current (Jφ) distribution in radial (ρ), height (z), and local time (LT) dimensions. After binning the in-situ magnetic field data into 2 RJ ​× ​2 RJ ​× ​3 ​h (RJ is the radius of Jupiter) bins, the three-dimensional Jφ is calculated by differencing of grid values from the Maxwell equation. The modeled Jφ is obtained by fitting it to a lognormal distribution in ρ and a Gaussian distribution in z. The local time dependence is included by fitting the coefficients of the lognormal using a harmonic expansion. The results show a local time asymmetry of the ring current. Jφ is weaker and the current sheet is compressed at the noon and dusk sectors, comparing with the situation at the midnight and dawn sectors. The ring current peaks at ∼1.5MA/RJ2(2.94×10−1nA/m2) near midnight. Furthermore, the current sheet is thickest near ρ ​= ​10 RJ. The thickness decrease with ρ when ρ ​< ​35 RJ and increase slightly again when ρ ​> ​35 RJ. This empirical model of Jupiter's current sheet is more realistic than previous models.

Nonlinear dynamics in the jupiter magnetosphere: implications of dust-acoustic cnoidal mode

Different types of waves and their nature in the Jovian middle magnetosphere are still not clear or specified. For this purpose, a generalized hydrodynamic model for an arbitrary amplitude dust-acoustic waves is built for true Jovian magnetosphere. The plasma system consists of positive dust grains, Maxwellian ions and electrons. An evolution equation containing a Sagdeev potential is derived, and its numerical analysis is presented. Unexpectedly, the given data yielded cnoidal waves only with positive potential. The effect of the external magnetic field, Mach number, and directional cosine parameters are studied and manipulated. We think that the present results are important in realizing the main waves in the Jovian magnetosphere, and the possible correlation to its particles’ stability and pole acoustic waves.

Quasilinear Model of Jovian Whistler Mode Emission

AbstractThe whistler mode chorus emissions are pervasively detected by the Juno satellite in Jupiter’s magnetospheric environment. This article pays particular attention to a sample observation made by the Juno on 3 November 2019, where typical whistler mode chorus waves are measured. The emission is characterized by a broad range of wave frequencies from below fce/2, where fce denotes the local electron cyclotron frequency, down to the lower‐hybrid frequency, with a gradually downshifting frequency over time. The excitation appears to coincide with the detection of a “butterfly” pitch‐angle distribution and the expected loss‐cone feature associated with the energetic electrons. These anisotropic features, especially the butterfly pitch‐angle distribution, gradually disappear as the waves are excited and the electron phase space distribution becomes isotropic. The aim of this article is to model the characteristics by means of quasilinear kinetic theory of the whistler instability driven by a loss‐cone electron distribution function with a narrow loss‐cone angle, which is to be expected from low‐latitude regions of the Jovian magnetosphere. It is shown that the theoretically constructed dynamic wave spectrum is consistent with the observation made on 3 November 2019. The present finding demonstrates that the quasilinear theory can be a powerful theoretical tool for interpreting various Jovian plasma wave emissions, which includes the whistler waves, but also other wave modes.

Simultaneous UV Images and High‐Latitude Particle and Field Measurements During an Auroral Dawn Storm at Jupiter

AbstractWe present multi‐instrument Juno observations on day‐of‐year 86, 2017 that link particles and fields in Jupiter's polar magnetosphere to transient UV emissions in Jupiter's northern auroral region known as dawn storms. Juno ranged from 42°N to 51°N in magnetic latitude and 5.8–7.8 Jovian radii (1 RJ = 71,492 km) during this period. These dawn storm emissions consisted of two separate, elongated structures which extended into the nightside, rotated with the planet, had enhanced brightness (up to at least 1.4 megaRayleigh) and high color ratios. The color ratio is a proxy for the atmospheric penetration depth and therefore the energy of the electrons that produce the UV emissions. Juno observed electrons and ions on magnetic field lines mapping to these emissions. The electrons were primarily field‐aligned, bidirectional, and, at times, exhibited sudden intensity decreases below ∼10 keV coincident with intensity enhancements up to energies of ∼1,000 keV, consistent with the high color ratio observations. The more energetic electron distributions had characteristic energies of ∼160–280 keV and downward energy fluxes (∼70–135 mW m−2) that were a significant fraction needed to produce the UV emissions for this event. Magnetic field perturbations up to ∼0.7% of the local magnetic field showing evidence of upward and downward field‐aligned currents, whistler mode waves, and broadband kilometric radio emissions were also observed along Juno's trajectory during this time frame. These high‐latitude observations show similarities to those in the equatorial magnetosphere associated with dynamics processes such as interchange events, plasma injections, and/or tail reconnection.

Updated radiometric and wavelength calibration of the Juno ultraviolet spectrograph

Juno is a spacecraft in polar orbit around Jupiter, and one of its objectives is to explore the Jovian magnetosphere. Charged particles trapped along the Jovian magnetic field lines may generate auroral emission. The Juno magnetospheric payload is designed to measure the charged particle distributions in the Jovian magnetosphere while remote sensing the related UV-auroral emissions. The ultraviolet spectrograph on Juno (Juno-UVS) is a photon-counting imaging spectrograph designed to observe Jupiter’s prominent far-UV auroral emissions in the 68 to 210 nm spectral range. This work presents an improvement on the wavelength and radiometric calibration of Juno-UVS. Ground calibration measurements were reanalyzed by expanding the spectral database ultimately used to produce the instrument spectral pixel size map. This significantly improves the wavelength assignation, up to 4 nm at the longer wavelengths, compared with the previous calibration. Dedicated Juno-UVS observation sequences were made to evaluate the slit-dependent radiometric calibration, which was revised accordingly. This work highlights a slight slit-dependent variation in the radiometric calibration. An additional radiometric correction was established at wavelengths greater than 160 nm using some of UVS’s brightest recorded stellar spectra.

Formation of the Thebe Extension in the Ring System of Jupiter

AbstractJupiter's tenuous dust ring system is embedded in the planet's inner magnetosphere, and—among other structures—contains a very tenuous protrusion called the Thebe extension. In an attempt to explain the existence of this swath of particles beyond Thebe's orbit, Hamilton and Krüger (2008), https://doi.org/10.1038/nature06886 proposed that the dust particle motion is driven by a shadow resonance caused by variable dust charging on the day and night side of Jupiter. However, the model by Divine and Garrett (1983), https://doi.org/10.1029/ja088ia09p06889 together with recent observations by the Juno spacecraft indicates a warm and rather dense inner magnetosphere of Jupiter which implies that the mechanism of the shadow resonance does not work. Instead, we argue that dust grains ejected from Thebe due to micrometeoroid bombardment become the source of dust in the Thebe extension. We show that large (grain radii of a few micrometers up to multi‐micrometers) charged dust grains having significant initial velocities oscillate in the Thebe extension. Smaller charged grains (with sub‐micrometer radii) ejected from Thebe do not spend much time in the Thebe extension and migrate into the Thebe ring. At the same time, if such grains are ejected from larger dust grains in the Thebe extension due to fragmentation, they continue to oscillate within the Thebe extension for years. We argue that fragmentation of large dust grains in the Thebe extensions could be the main source of sub‐micrometer grains detected in the Thebe extension.

A Possible Dust Origin for an Unusual Feature in Io’s Sodium Neutral Clouds

Abstract We report the results of model simulations performed to explain the nature of a sodium emission feature in Io Neutral Clouds. The feature was detected via high-resolution spectroscopic observations from the 3.6 m Italian telescope TNG. The emission feature is blueshifted compared to the main emission (the banana-shaped Neutral Cloud of Io) by a few tens of km s−1, and it is most prominent when Io is a few tens of degrees before eclipse behind Jupiters shadow. The feature’s morphology changes with time, indicative of a geometrical effect. We constrained its direction, velocity, and column density with a model of sodium atom trajectories under the influence of Io’s and Jupiter’s gravity, and solar radiation pressure. The model that best explains this emission feature has the atoms injected into the exosphere from the leading/sub-Jovian hemisphere of Io (45°–68° west longitude), with velocities from 50 to 90 km s−1 relative to Io. These trajectories are consistent with those of negatively charged dust grains (radius ∼10 nm) accelerated by the corotational electric field of Jupiters magnetosphere. We propose that sputtering of sodium atoms from Na-bearing molecules (NaCl and Na2SO4) in these nanodust grains is the process responsible for our emission feature. Both modeling and observational constraints provide an order-of-magnitude estimate of the sodium production rate of ∼1026 s−1. Our work provides another method to monitor the amount of material that Io is supplying to its Neutral Clouds and plasma torus.

Jupiter's Auroral Radio Emissions Observed by Cassini: Rotational Versus Solar Wind Control, and Components Identification

AbstractReanalyzing Cassini radio observations performed during Jupiter's flyby of 2000–2001, we study the internal (rotational) versus external (solar wind) control of Jupiter's radio emissions, from kilometer to decameter wavelengths, and the relations between the different auroral radio components. For that purpose, we build a database of the occurrence of Jovian auroral radio components bKOM, HOM, and DAM observed by Cassini, and then frequency‐longitude stacked plots of the polarized intensity of these radio components. Comparing the results obtained inbound and outbound, as a function of the Observer's or Sun's longitude, we find that HOM &amp; DAM are dominantly rotation‐modulated (i.e., emitted from searchlight‐like sources fixed in Jovian longitude), whereas bKOM is modulated more strongly by the solar wind than by the rotation (i.e., emitted from sources more active within a given Local Time sector). We propose a simple analytical description of these internal and external modulations and evaluate its main parameters (the amplitude of each control) for HOM + DAM and bKOM. Comparing Cassini and Nançay Decameter Array data, we find that HOM is primarily connected to the decameter emissions originating from the dusk sector of the Jovian magnetosphere. HOM and DAM components form a complex but stable pattern in the frequency‐longitude plane. HOM also seems to be related to the “lesser arcs” identified by Voyager. bKOM consists of a main part above 40 kHz in antiphase with HOM occurrence, and detached patches below 80 kHz in phase with HOM. The frequency‐longitude patterns formed by DAM, HOM and bKOM remain to be modeled.