Corotating magnetospheric convection

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

97

Convective Flow, Earth Magnetosphere, Io, Jupiter Atmosphere, Plasma Interactions, Rotating Plasmas, Space Plasmas, Gas Injection, Ionospheric Conductivity, Magnetohydrodynamic Flow, Planetary Ionospheres, Planetary Rotation, Satellite Atmospheres, Toroidal Plasmas

Scientific paper

The longitudinal asymmetry of the Io plasma torus, as predicted by the magnetic-anomaly model and observed by earth-based optical astronomy, provides a driving mechanism for a corotating convection system in Jupiter's magnetosphere. The global nature of this convection system is described qualitatively, and a semiquantitative estimate of the convection time scale is deduced. The estimated convection time scale is comparable to a few Jovian rotation periods, from which it is concluded that the convection represents the dominant radial transport mechanism in the Jovian magnetosphere and the dominant mechanism for extracting energy from Jupiter's rotation for driving a wide variety of magnetospheric phenomena. It is also concluded that both the Jovian ionospheric conductivity and the plasma injection rate in the Io plasma torus must be considerably larger than previous estimates in order to make the estimated convection time scale consistent with observations and previous theoretical work. It is indicated that a similar corotating convection system may occur in other rotation-dominated magnetospheres, such as those of pulsars and Saturn.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Corotating magnetospheric convection does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Corotating magnetospheric convection, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Corotating magnetospheric convection will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1469566

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.