Sodium in the Jovian magnetosphere

Details Sodium in the Jovian magnetosphere Sodium in the Jovian magnetosphere

Mar 1976

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1976ap%26ss..40...63m&link_type=abstract

Astrophysics and Space Science, vol. 40, Mar. 1976, p. 63-72.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

6

Atmospheric Radiation, D Lines, Io, Jupiter Atmosphere, Planetary Magnetospheres, Planetary Radiation, Sodium, Planetary Composition, Proton Flux Density

Scientific paper

Observations of sodium D-line emission from Io and the magnetosphere of Jupiter are reported. A disk-shaped cloud of sodium is found to exist in the Jovian magnetosphere with an inner edge at about 4 Jovian radii and an outer edge at about 10 Jovian radii. The gravitational scale height above the equatorial plane is a few Jovian radii. The data are interpreted in terms of a sputtering model in which the sodium required to maintain the cloud is sputtered off the surface of Io by trapped energetic radiation-belt protons. Conditions on the atmospheric density are obtained. The Keplerian orbits attainable by such escaping sputtered atoms can provide the observed spatial distribution. The required 500-keV proton flux required to provide the 1-10-keV protons which will sputter the sodium at the surface of Io is consistent with the limiting trapped flux determined by ion-cyclotron turbulence.

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