Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
May 1978
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1978ap%26ss..55...93c&link_type=abstract
Astrophysics and Space Science, vol. 55, no. 1, May 1978, p. 93-112.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
20
Astronomical Models, Atmospheric Models, Io, Ionospheres, Planetary Ionospheres, Birkeland Currents, Comets, Critical Velocity, Electric Fields, Ionization, Ionospheric Electron Density, Jupiter Atmosphere, Pioneer 10 Space Probe, Comets, Atmosphere, Models, Io, Jupiter, Pioneer 10, Plasmas, Interactions, Asymmetry, Particle Flux, Satellites, Ionosphere, Magnetosphere
Scientific paper
A source for the ionosphere of Io is proposed based on the assumption that the satellite is rather moonlike but continuously bombarded by intense fluxes of energetic particles, which makes its surface electrically conducting so that a significant Birkeland current is drawn up along magnetic field lines from Jupiter's ionosphere. It is suggested that the ion current is neutralized upon contact with Io's surface and that subsequent sputtering of this material from the surface supplies the satellite's neutral atmosphere. A model for the generation and maintenance of Io's ionosphere is outlined, according to which the structure of the ionosphere is determined by the impact of energetic trapped electrons from the Jovian magnetosphere and the ram pressure of the corotational magnetospheric wind. The first of these two processes provides the main ionization mechanism, while the second compresses the upstream (or 'nighttime') ionosphere via Alfven's critical-velocity phenomenon. It is concluded that Io's ionosphere is more nearly analogous to the coma and tail of a comet in the solar wind than to the earthlike case of a permanent gravitationally bound ionosphere.
Cloutier Paul A.
Daniell Robert E.
Dessler A. J.
Hill Thomas W.
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