Journal article
An Enhancement of Jupiter's Main Auroral Emission and Magnetospheric Currents
Journal of geophysical research. Space physics, Vol.125(8), e2020JA027904
08/2020
DOI: 10.1029/2020JA027904
Abstract
We present observations of Jupiter's magnetic field and plasma obtained with the NASA Juno spacecraft during February 2018, along with simultaneous Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the planet's auroras. We show that a few-day transient enhancement of the azimuthal and radial magnetic fields and plasma temperature was coincident with a significant brightening of Jupiter's dawn-side main auroral emission. This presents the first evidence of control of Jupiter's main auroral emission intensity by magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling currents. We support this association by self-consistent calculation of the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling and radial force balance currents using an axisymmetric model, which broadly reproduces the Juno magnetic field and plasma observations and the HST auroral observations. We show that the transient enhancement can be explained by increased hot plasma pressure in the magnetosphere together with increased iogenic plasma mass outflow rate. Overall, this work provides important observational and modeling evidence revealing the behavior of Jupiter's giant magnetosphere.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- An Enhancement of Jupiter's Main Auroral Emission and Magnetospheric Currents
- Creators
- J. D. Nichols - University of LeicesterF. Allegrini - Southwest Research InstituteF. Bagenal - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsE. J. Bunce - University of LeicesterS. W. H. Cowley - University of LeicesterR. W. Ebert - Southwest Research InstituteD. Grodent - University of LiègeE. Huscher - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsA. Kamran - University of LeicesterW. S. Kurth - University of IowaR. J. Wilson - Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space PhysicsZ. Yao - University of Liège
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of geophysical research. Space physics, Vol.125(8), e2020JA027904
- DOI
- 10.1029/2020JA027904
- ISSN
- 2169-9380
- eISSN
- 2169-9402
- Publisher
- Amer Geophysical Union
- Number of pages
- 18
- Grant note
- GO-14634 / NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) 699041X; 699050X / NASA; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) ST/N000749/1 / STFC; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Southwest Research Institute
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 08/2020
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984455282202771
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