Dataset
Data from: Jupiter’s brightest auroras are powered by locally generated Alfvén waves
Dryad
02/18/2026
DOI: 10.5061/dryad.12jm63zc5
Abstract
Jupiter displays the brightest auroras in the solar system, driven by intensely varying energetic electrons that accelerate into the atmosphere. Here, we provide a comprehensive formalism that accurately describes the bimodality of observed auroral electron acceleration regimes. We demonstrate the occurrence of the two dominant auroral regimes – broadband and monoenergetic – is dictated by specific characteristic plasma length scales, namely the relationship between the transverse length scale and the electron inertial length. Furthermore, in contrast to the longstanding acceptance that Alfvén waves responsible for auroral electron acceleration exclusively originate at distant equatorial regions, we demonstrate they can be locally generated at Jupiter’s low altitudes. From this understanding, we find locally generated, low-altitude Alfvén waves can be directly responsible for accelerating the most intense auroral electrons at Jupiter. These findings establish that the low-altitude acceleration region can itself become a source of Alfvén waves rather than merely a sink for wave energy, thus altering the standard picture of global magnetospheric energy transfer in strongly magnetized planets.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Data from: Jupiter’s brightest auroras are powered by locally generated Alfvén waves
- Creators
- Ali Sulaiman - University of Minnesota SystemBarry H. Mauk - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics LaboratoryRobert Lysak - University of Minnesota SystemNick Kruegler - University of Minnesota SystemYash Sarkango - University of Minnesota SystemJamey Szalay - Princeton UniversityScott Bolton - Southwest Research InstituteGeorge Clark - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics LaboratoryPeter Damiano - University of Alaska FairbanksWondwossen Eshetu - University of Minnesota SystemSadie Elliott - University of Minnesota SystemWilliam Kurth - University of IowaEvan Skinner - University of Minnesota System
- Resource Type
- Dataset
- DOI
- 10.5061/dryad.12jm63zc5
- Publisher
- Dryad
- Grant note
- 80NSSC20K1269 / National Aeronautics and Space Administration (https://ror.org/027ka1x80) 80NSSC24K1837 / National Aeronautics and Space Administration (https://ror.org/027ka1x80) 699041X / National Aeronautics and Space Administration (https://ror.org/027ka1x80) AGS-2225270 / U.S. National Science Foundation (https://ror.org/021nxhr62) S99022AKP / National Aeronautics and Space Administration (https://ror.org/027ka1x80) 80NSSC26K0344 / National Aeronautics and Space Administration (https://ror.org/027ka1x80)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 02/18/2026
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9985218382102771
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