Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p21c..02j&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P21C-02
Physics
[2732] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere Interactions With Satellites And Rings, [6218] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Jovian Satellites, [6222] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Ganymede, [6299] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / General Or Miscellaneous
Scientific paper
Ganymede is the only satellite in the solar system known to possess an intrinsic magnetic field. Determination of Ganymede’s internal magnetic field relies on the separation of the external and internal components of the measured fields in the vicinity of the moon. We have re-analyzed Ganymede’s internal field model by taking advantage of our newly developed MHD model that provides a realistic representation of the (external) magnetospheric fields arising from the plasma-moon interaction and allows us to remove their signature from the data. The re-analysis assumed two forms for the internal field: one approach assumed a permanent dipole and an induced dipole; the other approach assumed dipole plus quadrupole moments. We find that the newly fitted dipole moments obtained from the simulation-based analysis differ slightly from those previously reported (Kivelson et al., Icarus, 2002). Our new analysis suggests that the subtle differences in the goodness of model fits make it impossible to rule out either the quadrupole moments or the inductive response unambiguously based on the present observations, even with the aid of the MHD simulations. However, the new analysis confirms that quadrupole moments are of small amplitude relative to the dipole moment. Furthermore, the inductive response of a sub-surface conducting layer is still found to fit the data as well as does the multipole fit but with fewer free parameters. Our new model results, however, deduce a smaller induction efficiency compared to that obtained in the original analysis. Implications of our new model results for the properties of the moon’s sub-surface ocean will be discussed.
Galland Kivelson Margaret
Jia Xun
Khurana Krishan K.
Walker Ray J.
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