Lightning at Jupiter pulsates with a similar rhythm as in-cloud lightning at Earth

Ivana Kolmašová; Ondřej Santolík; Masafumi Imai; William S Kurth; George B Hospodarsky; John E P Connerney; Scott J Bolton; Radek Lán

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-38351-6

Back

Lightning at Jupiter pulsates with a similar rhythm as in-cloud lightning at Earth

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Lightning at Jupiter pulsates with a similar rhythm as in-cloud lightning at Earth

Ivana Kolmašová, Ondřej Santolík, Masafumi Imai, William S Kurth, George B Hospodarsky, John E P Connerney, Scott J Bolton and Radek Lán

Nature communications, Vol.14(1), pp.2707-2707

05/23/2023

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38351-6

PMCID: PMC10205726

PMID: 37221170

Files and links (1)

url

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38351-6View

Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Our knowledge about the fine structure of lightning processes at Jupiter was substantially limited by the time resolution of previous measurements. Recent observations of the Juno mission revealed electromagnetic signals of Jovian rapid whistlers at a cadence of a few lightning discharges per second, comparable to observations of return strokes at Earth. The duration of these discharges was below a few milliseconds and below one millisecond in the case of Jovian dispersed pulses, which were also discovered by Juno. However, it was still uncertain if Jovian lightning processes have the fine structure of steps corresponding to phenomena known from thunderstorms at Earth. Here we show results collected by the Juno Waves instrument during 5 years of measurements at 125-microsecond resolution. We identify radio pulses with typical time separations of one millisecond, which suggest step-like extensions of lightning channels and indicate that Jovian lightning initiation processes are similar to the initiation of intracloud lightning at Earth.

Details

Title: Subtitle: Lightning at Jupiter pulsates with a similar rhythm as in-cloud lightning at Earth
Creators: Ivana Kolmašová - Charles University
Ondřej Santolík - Charles University
Masafumi Imai - National Institute of Technology, Niihama College
William S Kurth - University of Iowa
George B Hospodarsky - University of Iowa
John E P Connerney - Goddard Space Flight Center
Scott J Bolton - Southwest Research Institute
Radek Lán - Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Physics
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Nature communications, Vol.14(1), pp.2707-2707
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38351-6
PMID: 37221170
PMCID: PMC10205726
NLM abbreviation: Nat Commun
ISSN: 2041-1723
eISSN: 2041-1723
Language: English
Date published: 05/23/2023
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9984455275202771

Metrics

7 Record Views

8 Times Cited - Web of Science