On the Origin of System III Asymmetries in the Io Torus

Details On the Origin of System III Asymmetries in the Io Torus On the Origin of System III Asymmetries in the Io Torus

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.3006s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #30.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.538

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The Io plasma torus exhibits several intriguing asymmetries which offer insights to the processes that transport mass and energy through the system. While these asymmetries are increasingly well described observationally, most still lack physical explanations. One important asymmetry is fixed in the coordinate system corotating with Jupiter's magnetic field (λIII). Space-based and ground-based observations have shown that torus ions are hotter and more highly ionized around λIII 20°. Our simulations show that this type of torus asymmetry can be caused by enhanced pickup of fresh ions from Io's neutral clouds near these longitudes. The enhancement is caused primarily by the tilt and offset of the torus relative to the neutral clouds. We will report on the model parameters required to match the observed asymmetries, and offer predictions which will allow a test of this hypothesis.
This work has been supported by NSF Planetary Astronomy and NASA Outer Planets Research programs.

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