Jupiter's equatorward auroral features : Possible signature of magnetospheric injections

We investigate the characteristics of ultraviolet auroral features located equatorward of the main
emission appearing in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images obtained in 2000-2007. Several
properties of the auroral emissions are analyzed. The mapped radial position and System III longitude of the observed auroral features are in good agreement with those of the injections observed in the equatorial plane by Galileo. Finally, we discuss the processes causing auroral signatures of injections. This comparative study demonstrates that the structures under study are most probably related to magnetospheric injections and sheds light to the mechanism involved in the magnetosphere-ionosphere dynamics.