Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufmsm23b1610c&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #SM23B-1610
Physics
[6220] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Jupiter
Scientific paper
In the Jovian magnetosphere, the corotation enforcing current system plays a major role and controls the main oval auroral emissions. This current system is composed of: 1) radially outward currents in the equatorial plane, where the closed field lines of Jupiter are deformed by the subcorotating plasma; 2) Pedersen currents in the ionosphere pointing to the equator; 3) field aligned (Birkeland) currents closing the system. In this study, we present a MHD model specially designed to perform three dimensional global simulations of the Jovian magnetosphere and to reproduce the corotation enforcing current system. In this model, a consistent coupling between the ionosphere and the magnetosphere is obtained via the introduction of ion-neutral collisions in the ionosphere and the mass-loading caused by Io (~1000 kg/s) is simulated via a production source term. This model will allow us to understand the influence of the solar wind on the current systems of Jupiter's magnetosphere and to study how the ion-neutral collision frequency in the ionosphere and the mass-loading at the orbit of Io affect the position of the corotation break-down in our simulations. The first results indicate that a northward IMF tends to lead to an open magnetosphere while a southward IMF does not. In addition, the corotation breaks down at larger radial distances for high Pedersen conductivities in the ionosphere (controlled in our model by the ion-neutral collision frequency) or for a weaker mass-loading at Io; as predicted by Hill (1979).
Chané Emmanuel
Poedts Stefaan
Saur J. S.
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