[en] Ionospheric conductance is important in controlling the electrical coupling between the Jovian planetary magnetosphere and its ionosphere. To some extent, it regulates the characteristics of the ionospheric current from above and the closure of the magnetosphere-ionosphere circuit in the ionosphere (Cowley&Bunce, 2001). Multi-spectral images collected with the UltraViolet Spectrograph (UVS) (Gladstone et al., 2017) on board Juno (Bagenal et al.,2017) have been analyzed to derive the spatial distribution of the auroral precipitation reaching the atmosphere (Bonfond et al., 2017). Electron energy flux and their characteristic energy have been used as inputs to an ionospheric model providing the production and loss rates of the main ion species, H3+, hydrocarbon ions and electrons (Gérard et al., 2020). Their steady state densities are calculated and used to determine the local distribution of the Pedersen electrical conductivity and its altitude integrated value for each UVS pixel. These values are displayed as H3+ density and Pedersen conductivity maps. We find that the main contribution to the Pedersen conductance corresponds to collisions of H3+ and hydrocarbon ions with H2.
Analysis of the Birkeland current intensities based on the Juno magnetometers measurements (Kotsiaros et al. 2019) indicated that the observed current intensities are statistically larger in the south. They suggested that these differences are possibly due to a higher Pedersen conductance in this hemisphere. In order to verify this hypothesis, we calculate the conductance and H3+ density maps for perijoves 1 to 15 based on Juno-UVS spectral images. We compare the spatially integrated auroral conductance values of the two hemispheres for each orbit. The objective is to identify possible hemispheric asymmetries.
Research Center/Unit :
STAR - Space sciences, Technologies and Astrophysics Research - ULiège
Disciplines :
Space science, astronomy & astrophysics
Author, co-author :
Gérard, Jean-Claude ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO)
Gkouvelis, Leonardos ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Bonfond, Bertrand ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Gladstone, G.R.
Blanc, Michel
Grodent, Denis ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département d'astrophys., géophysique et océanographie (AGO) > Labo de physique atmosphérique et planétaire (LPAP)
Hue, Vincent
Greathouse, Thomas
Kammer, J.
Verteeg, M.
Language :
English
Title :
Jovian auroral conductance from Juno-UVS: hemispheric asymmetry?
Publication date :
30 October 2020
Event name :
EPSC 2020
Event organizer :
Copernicus
Event date :
September 2020
Audience :
International
Funders :
BELSPO - Belgian Science Policy Office F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
This website uses cookies to improve user experience. Read more
Save & Close
Accept all
Decline all
Show detailsHide details
Cookie declaration
About cookies
Strictly necessary
Performance
Strictly necessary cookies allow core website functionality such as user login and account management. The website cannot be used properly without strictly necessary cookies.
This cookie is used by Cookie-Script.com service to remember visitor cookie consent preferences. It is necessary for Cookie-Script.com cookie banner to work properly.
Performance cookies are used to see how visitors use the website, eg. analytics cookies. Those cookies cannot be used to directly identify a certain visitor.
Used to store the attribution information, the referrer initially used to visit the website
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. Websites use cookies to help users navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. Cookies that are required for the website to operate properly are allowed to be set without your permission. All other cookies need to be approved before they can be set in the browser.
You can change your consent to cookie usage at any time on our Privacy Policy page.