Quasi-Periodic Variation of Jupiter’s Aurora Observed by Hisaki Compared with Magnetospheric Dynamics

Quasi-periodic variations of a few to several days are observed in the energetic plasma and magnetic dipolarization in Jupiter’s magnetosphere. Variation in the plasma mass flux related to Io’s volcanic activity is proposed as a candidate for the variety of the period. Using a long-term monitoring of Jupiter’s northern aurora by the Earth-orbiting planetary space telescope Hisaki, we analyzed the
quasi-periodic variation seen in the auroral power integrated over the northern pole for 2014-2016, which included monitoring Io’s volcanically active period in 2015 and the solar wind near Jupiter during Juno’s approach phase in 2016. Quasi-periodic variation with periods of 0.8-8 days was detected. The difference between the periodicities during volcanically active and quiet periods is not significant. Our dataset suggests that the difference of period between volcanically active and quiet conditions is below 1.25 days. This is consistent with the expected difference estimated from a proposed relationship based on a theoretical model applied to the plasma variation of this volcanic event. The periodicity does not show a clear correlation with the auroral power, central meridional longitude, nor Io phase angle. The periodic variation is continuously observed in addition to the auroral modulation due to solar wind variation. Furthermore, Hisaki auroral data sometimes shows particularly intense auroral bursts of emissions lasting <10 h. We find that these bursts coincide with peaks of the periodic variations. Moreover, the occurrence of these bursts increases during the volcanically active period. This auroral observation links parts of previous observations to give a global view of Jupiter’s magnetospheric dynamics.