Denis Grodent

A self-consistent model of the Jovian auroral thermal structure

A one-dimensional (1-D) model coupling a two-stream electron transport model of energy deposition with a 1-D thermal conduction model has been developed. It is applied to investigate the links between auroral heat input and the vertical temperature of Jupiters upper atmosphere. Two energy distributions meant to reproduce the emissions of a diffuse and a discrete aurora are used to evaluate the importance of the energy spectrum of the incident electrons for the thermal balance of Jupiters auroral thermosphere. The values of observable quantities such as the altitude of the H2 emission peak, thermal infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV) emissions, and temperatures associated with various optical signatures are used to constrain the parameters of these distributions. It is shown that the high-energy component of these energy distributions heats a region of the homosphere between 10−4 and 10−6 bar and mainly controls the H2 temperature and the far-UV (FUV) emission. A 3-keV soft electron component is necessary to heat the region directly above the homopause, between 10−6 and 10−9 bar. It has a large influence on the H2 and H3+ temperatures and on the H3+ near-IR (NIR) emission. It is used in conjunction with a weak 100 eV component which is responsible for heating the thermosphere, from 10−9 to 10−12 bar and exerts a control on the exospheric temperature. The calculated temperatures, UV, and IR emissions suggest that the model probably misses a nonparticle heat source in the 10−5 bar region, that is expected to balance the strong hydrocarbon cooling. Sensitivity tests are performed to evaluate the importance of the parameters of the energy distributions. They show that the FUV color ratio increases with the characteristic energy (or high-energy cutoff) of the high-energy component, while the H2 rovibrational temperature varies inversely. A trade-off is therefore necessary for these two parameters to simultaneously meet their observational constraints. Further tests demonstrate the essential thermostatic role played by H3+, which regulates the net heating in the thermosphere. An increased eddy diffusion reproduces the effect of a possible auroral upwelling of methane but gives rise to an H2 temperature smaller than the observed value.

Response of Jupiter's and Saturn's auroral activity to the solar wind

[1] While the terrestrial aurorae are known to be driven primarily by the interaction of the Earth’s magnetosphere with the solar wind, there is considerable evidence that auroral emissions on Jupiter and Saturn are driven primarily by internal processes, with the main energy source being the planets’ rapid rotation. Prior observations have suggested there might be some influence of the solar wind on Jupiter’s aurorae and indicated that auroral storms on Saturn can occur at times of solar wind pressure increases. To investigate in detail the dependence of auroral processes on solar wind conditions, a large campaign of observations of these planets has been undertaken using the Hubble Space Telescope, in association with measurements from planetary spacecraft and solar wind conditions both propagated from 1 AU and measured near each planet. The data indicate a brightening of both the auroral emissions and Saturn kilometric radiation at Saturn close in time to the arrival of solar wind shocks and pressure increases, consistent with a direct physical relationship between Saturnian auroral processes and solar wind conditions. At Jupiter the correlation is less strong, with increases in total auroral power seen near the arrival of solar wind forward shocks but little increase observed near reverse shocks. In addition, auroral dawn storms have been observed when there was little change in solar wind conditions. The data are consistent with some solar wind influence on some Jovian auroral processes, while the auroral activity also varies independently of the solar wind. This extensive data set will serve to constrain theoretical models for the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn.

Reconnection in a rotation-dominated magnetosphere and its relation to Saturn's auroral dynamics

The first extended series of observations of Saturns auroral emissions, undertaken by the Hubble Space Telescope in January 2004 in conjunction with measurements of the upstream solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) by the Cassini spacecraft, have revealed a strong auroral response to the interplanetary medium. Following the arrival of the forward shock of a corotating interaction region compression, bright auroras were first observed to expand significantly poleward in the dawn sector such that the area of the polar cap was much reduced, following which the auroral morphology evolved into a spiral structure around the pole. We propose that these auroral effects are produced by compression-induced reconnection of a significant fraction of the open flux present in Saturns open tail lobes, as has also been observed to occur at Earth, followed by subcorotation of the newly closed flux tubes in the outer magnetosphere region due to the action of the ionospheric torque. We show that the combined action of reconnection and rotation naturally gives rise to spiral structures on newly opened and newly closed field lines, the latter being in the same sense as observed in the auroral images. The magnetospheric corollary of the dynamic scenario outlined here is that corotating interaction region-induced magnetospheric compressions and tail collapses should be accompanied by hot plasma injection into the outer magnetosphere, first in the midnight and dawn sector, and second at increasing local times via noon and dusk. We discuss how this scenario leads to a strong correlation of auroral and related disturbances at Saturn with the dynamic pressure of the solar wind, rather than to a correlation with the north-south component of the IMF as observed at Earth, even though the underlying physics is similar, related to the transport of magnetic flux to and from the tail in the Dungey cycle.

Ultraviolet emissions from the magnetic footprints of Io, Ganymede and Europa on Jupiter

Io leaves a magnetic footprint on Jupiters upper atmosphere that appears as a spot of ultraviolet emission that remains fixed underneath Io as Jupiter rotates. The specific physical mechanisms responsible for generating those emissions are not well understood, but in general the spot seems to arise because of an electromagnetic interaction between Jupiters magnetic field and the plasma surrounding Io, driving currents of around 1 million amperes down through Jupiters ionosphere. The other galilean satellites may also leave footprints, and the presence or absence of such footprints should illuminate the underlying physical mechanism by revealing the strengths of the currents linking the satellites to Jupiter. Here we report persistent, faint, far-ultraviolet emission from the jovian footprints of Ganymede and Europa. We also show that Ios magnetic footprint extends well beyond the immediate vicinity of Ios flux-tube interaction with Jupiter, and much farther than predicted theoretically; the emission persists for several hours downstream. We infer from these data that Ganymede and Europa have persistent interactions with Jupiters magnetic field despite their thin atmospheres.

Morphological differences between Saturn's ultraviolet aurorae and those of Earth and Jupiter

It has often been stated that Saturns magnetosphere and aurorae are intermediate between those of Earth, where the dominant processes are solar wind driven, and those of Jupiter, where processes are driven by a large source of internal plasma. But this view is based on information about Saturn that is far inferior to what is now available. Here we report ultraviolet images of Saturn, which, when combined with simultaneous Cassini measurements of the solar wind and Saturn kilometric radio emission, demonstrate that its aurorae differ morphologically from those of both Earth and Jupiter. Saturns auroral emissions vary slowly; some features appear in partial corotation whereas others are fixed to the solar wind direction; the auroral oval shifts quickly in latitude; and the aurora is often not centred on the magnetic pole nor closed on itself. In response to a large increase in solar wind dynamic pressure Saturns aurora brightened dramatically, the brightest auroral emissions moved to higher latitudes, and the dawn side polar regions were filled with intense emissions. The brightening is reminiscent of terrestrial aurorae, but the other two variations are not. Rather than being intermediate between the Earth and Jupiter, Saturns auroral emissions behave fundamentally differently from those at the other planets.

A pulsating auroral X-ray hot spot on Jupiter

Jupiters X-ray aurora has been thought to be excited by energetic sulphur and oxygen ions precipitating from the inner magnetosphere into the planets polar regions. Here we report high-spatial-resolution observations that demonstrate that most of Jupiters northern auroral X-rays come from a ‘hot spot’ located significantly poleward of the latitudes connected to the inner magnetosphere. The hot spot seems to be fixed in magnetic latitude and longitude and occurs in a region where anomalous infrared and ultraviolet emissions have also been observed. We infer from the data that the particles that excite the aurora originate in the outer magnetosphere. The hot spot X-rays pulsate with an approximately 45-min period, a period similar to that reported for high-latitude radio and energetic electron bursts observed by near-Jupiter spacecraft. These results invalidate the idea that jovian auroral X-ray emissions are mainly excited by steady precipitation of energetic heavy ions from the inner magnetosphere. Instead, the X-rays seem to result from currently unexplained processes in the outer magnetosphere that produce highly localized and highly variable emissions over an extremely wide range of wavelengths.

Origin of Saturn's aurora: Simultaneous observations by Cassini and the Hubble Space Telescope

Outer planet auroras have been imaged for more than a decade, yet understanding their physical origin requires simultaneous remote and in situ observations. The first such measurements at Saturn were obtained in January 2007, when the Hubble Space Telescope imaged the ultraviolet aurora, while the Cassini spacecraft crossed field lines connected to the auroral oval in the high-latitude magnetosphere near noon. The Cassini data indicate that the noon aurora lies in the boundary between open- and closed-field lines, where a layer of upward-directed field-aligned current flows whose density requires downward acceleration of magnetospheric electrons sufficient to produce the aurora. These observations indicate that the quasi-continuous main oval is produced by the magnetosphere-solar wind interaction through the shear in rotational flow across the open-closed-field line boundary.

Oscillation of Saturn's southern auroral oval

magnetic field is apparently highly axisymmetric. In addition, the period of the Saturn kilometric radiation has been shown to vary over time. In this paper we present results from the recent Hubble Space Telescope observations of Saturn’s southern ultraviolet auroral emission. We show that the center of the auroral oval oscillates with period 10.76 h ± 0.15 h for both January 2007 and February 2008, i.e., close to the periods determined for oscillations in other magnetospheric phenomena. The motion of the oval center is described for 2007 by an ellipse with semimajor axis � 1.4 ±0 .3 oriented toward � 09–21 h LT, eccentricity � 0.93, and center offset from the spin axis by � 1.8 toward � 04 h LT. For 2008 the oscillation is consistent with an ellipse with semimajor axis � 2.2 ±0 .3 oriented toward � 09–21 h LT, eccentricity � 0.99, and a center offset from the spin axis by � 2.2 toward � 03 h LT. The motion of the auroral oval is thus highly elliptical in both cases, and the major oscillation axis is oriented toward prenoon/ premidnight. This result places an independent constraint on the magnitude of the planet’s dipole tilt and may also indicate the presence of an external current system that imposes an asymmetry in the ionospheric field modulated close to the planetary period.

Open flux estimates in Saturn's magnetosphere during the January 2004 Cassini-HST campaign, and implications for reconnection rates

During 8–30 January 2004, a sequence of 68 UV images of Saturns southern aurora was obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), coordinated for the first time with measurements of the upstream interplanetary conditions made by the Cassini spacecraft. Using the poleward edge of the observed aurora as a proxy for the open-closed field line boundary, the open flux content of the southern polar region has been estimated. It is found to range from ∼15 to ∼50 GWb during the interval, such a large variation providing evidence of a significant magnetospheric interaction with the solar wind, in particular with the interplanetary structures associated with corotating interaction regions (CIRs). The open flux is found to decline slowly during a rarefaction region in which the interplanetary magnetic field remained very weak, while decreasing sharply in association with the onset of CIR-related solar wind compressions. Such decreases are indicative of the dominating role of open flux closure in Saturns tail during these intervals. Increases in open flux are found to occur in the higher-field compression regions after the onsets, and in a following rarefaction region of intermediate field strength. These increases are indicative of the dominating role of open flux production at Saturns magnetopause during these intervals. The rate of open flux production has been estimated from the upstream interplanetary data using an empirical formula based on experience at Earth, with typical values varying from ∼10 kV during the weak-field rarefaction region, to ∼200 kV during the strong-field compression. These values have been integrated over time between individual HST image sets to estimate the total open flux produced during these intervals. Comparison with the changes in open flux obtained from the auroral images then allows us to estimate the amount of open flux closed during these intervals, and hence the averaged tail reconnection rates. Intermittent intervals of tail reconnection at rates of ∼30–60 kV are inferred in rarefaction regions, while compression regions are characterised by rates of ∼100–200 kV, these values representing averages over the ∼2-day intervals between HST image sequences. The forms of the aurorae observed are also discussed in relation to the deduced voltage values.

An Earth-like correspondence between Saturn's auroral features and radio emission

Saturn is a source of intense kilometre-wavelength radio emissions that are believed to be associated with its polar aurorae, and which provide an important remote diagnostic of its magnetospheric activity. Previous observations implied that the radio emission originated in the polar regions, and indicated a strong correlation with solar wind dynamic pressure. The radio source also appeared to be fixed near local noon and at the latitude of the ultraviolet aurora. There have, however, been no observations relating the radio emissions to detailed auroral structures. Here we report measurements of the radio emissions, which, along with high-resolution images of Saturns ultraviolet auroral emissions, suggest that although there are differences in the global morphology of the aurorae, Saturns radio emissions exhibit an Earth-like correspondence between bright auroral features and the radio emissions. This demonstrates the universality of the mechanism that results in emissions near the electron cyclotron frequency narrowly beamed at large angles to the magnetic field.