Temporal variations of UV emissions from Io's atmosphere

Details Temporal variations of UV emissions from Io's atmosphere Temporal variations of UV emissions from Io's atmosphere

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p14b..08r&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P14B-08

Physics

[0370] Atmospheric Composition And Structure / Volcanic Effects, [2704] Magnetospheric Physics / Auroral Phenomena, [6063] Planetary Sciences: Comets And Small Bodies / Volcanism, [6219] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Io

Scientific paper

We analyze a set of HST/STIS observations of Io's auroral UV emission and find a remarkably stable emission pattern over a period of 5 years when we take into account the viewing geometry and Io's position with respect to Jupiter's magnetosphere. Io's auroral radiation is generated by collisions of impinging magnetospheric electrons and the atmospheric gas particles. The radiation is often used as a tool to infer properties of both the satellite's plasma environment and the atmosphere. We investigate the spatially resolved OI1356 Å emission extracted from 18 observations of Io's dayside atmosphere by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) taken between 1997 and 2001. We then construct a phenomenological model for the three dimensional distribution of the local UV emission in Io's vicinity, which only depends on the properties of the ambient plasma. Model images, generated by integrating the local emission along the respective line-of-sight, show good agreement with the 18 STIS observations for all major aurora features. Thus, we do not find strong variations of the oxygen abundance, although Io's atmosphere is assumed to be highly variable due to the changing volcanic activity. A comparison with a STIS observation taken in eclipse indicates a collapse of the lower atmosphere, when Io moves through Jupiter's shadow.

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