Yates, Jeremy and Achilleos, Nick and Guio, Patrick (2012) Influence of upstream solar wind on thermospheric flows at Jupiter. Planetary and Space Science 61 (1), pp. 15-31. ISSN 0032-0633.
Abstract
The coupling of Jupiter's magnetosphere and ionosphere plays a vital role in creating its auroral emissions. The strength of these emissions is dependent on the difference in speed of the rotational flows within Jupiter's high-latitude thermosphere and the planet's magnetodisc. Using an azimuthally symmetric global circulation model, we have simulated how upstream solar wind conditions affect the energy and direction of atmospheric flows. In order to simulate the effect of a varying dynamic pressure in the upstream solar wind, we calculated three magnetic field profiles representing compressed, averaged and expanded ‘middle’ magnetospheres. These profiles were then used to solve for the angular velocity of plasma in the magnetosphere. This angular velocity determines the strength of currents flowing between the ionosphere and magnetosphere. We examine the influence of variability in this current system upon the global winds and energy inputs within the Jovian thermosphere. We find that the power dissipated by Joule heating and ion drag increases by not, vert, similar190% and not, vert, similar185% from our compressed to expanded model respectively. We investigated the effect of exterior boundary conditions on our models and found that by reducing the radial current at the outer edge of the magnetodisc, we also limit the thermosphere's ability to transmit angular momentum to this region.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Keyword(s) / Subject(s): | Jupiter, magnetosphere, thermosphere, ionosphere, aurora |
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Natural Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Sep 2011 08:23 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2023 16:56 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/4106 |
Statistics
Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.
Archive Staff Only (login required)
