Europa Modifies Jupiter's Plasma Sheet
Abstract Jupiter's plasma sheet has been understood to be primarily composed of Io‐genic sulfur and oxygen, along with protons at lower mass density. These ions move radially away from Jupiter, filling its magnetosphere. The material in the plasma sheet interacts with Europa, which is also a so...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105809 |
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| author | J. R. Szalay J. Saur D. J. McComas F. Allegrini F. Bagenal S. J. Bolton R. W. Ebert T. K. Kim G. Livadiotis A. R. Poppe P. Valek R. J. Wilson E. J. Zirnstein |
| author_facet | J. R. Szalay J. Saur D. J. McComas F. Allegrini F. Bagenal S. J. Bolton R. W. Ebert T. K. Kim G. Livadiotis A. R. Poppe P. Valek R. J. Wilson E. J. Zirnstein |
| author_sort | J. R. Szalay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Jupiter's plasma sheet has been understood to be primarily composed of Io‐genic sulfur and oxygen, along with protons at lower mass density. These ions move radially away from Jupiter, filling its magnetosphere. The material in the plasma sheet interacts with Europa, which is also a source of magnetospheric pickup ions, primarily hydrogen and oxygen. Juno's thermal plasma instrument JADE, the Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment, has provided comprehensive in situ observations of the composition of Jupiter's plasma sheet ions with its Time‐of‐Flight mass‐spectrometry capabilities. Here, we present observations of the magnetospheric composition in the Europa‐Ganymede region of Jupiter's magnetosphere. We find material from Europa is intermittently present at comparable densities to Io‐genic plasma. The intermittency of Europa‐genic signatures suggests Europa's neutral oxygen toroidal cloud is more localized to Europa's vicinity than its hydrogen cloud. These observations reveal a more complex and compositionally diverse magnetosphere than previously thought. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e6e3aa6a8deb421da0e280e930008f33 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-e6e3aa6a8deb421da0e280e930008f332025-08-20T02:31:37ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072024-03-01516n/an/a10.1029/2023GL105809Europa Modifies Jupiter's Plasma SheetJ. R. Szalay0J. Saur1D. J. McComas2F. Allegrini3F. Bagenal4S. J. Bolton5R. W. Ebert6T. K. Kim7G. Livadiotis8A. R. Poppe9P. Valek10R. J. Wilson11E. J. Zirnstein12Department of Astrophysical Sciences Princeton University Princeton NJ USAInstitute of Geophysics and Meteorology University of Cologne Cologne GermanyDepartment of Astrophysical Sciences Princeton University Princeton NJ USASouthwest Research Institute San Antonio TX USALaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USASouthwest Research Institute San Antonio TX USASouthwest Research Institute San Antonio TX USASpace Science and Applications Group Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USADepartment of Astrophysical Sciences Princeton University Princeton NJ USASpace Sciences Laboratory University of California at Berkeley Berkeley CA USASouthwest Research Institute San Antonio TX USALaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USADepartment of Astrophysical Sciences Princeton University Princeton NJ USAAbstract Jupiter's plasma sheet has been understood to be primarily composed of Io‐genic sulfur and oxygen, along with protons at lower mass density. These ions move radially away from Jupiter, filling its magnetosphere. The material in the plasma sheet interacts with Europa, which is also a source of magnetospheric pickup ions, primarily hydrogen and oxygen. Juno's thermal plasma instrument JADE, the Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment, has provided comprehensive in situ observations of the composition of Jupiter's plasma sheet ions with its Time‐of‐Flight mass‐spectrometry capabilities. Here, we present observations of the magnetospheric composition in the Europa‐Ganymede region of Jupiter's magnetosphere. We find material from Europa is intermittently present at comparable densities to Io‐genic plasma. The intermittency of Europa‐genic signatures suggests Europa's neutral oxygen toroidal cloud is more localized to Europa's vicinity than its hydrogen cloud. These observations reveal a more complex and compositionally diverse magnetosphere than previously thought.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105809 |
| spellingShingle | J. R. Szalay J. Saur D. J. McComas F. Allegrini F. Bagenal S. J. Bolton R. W. Ebert T. K. Kim G. Livadiotis A. R. Poppe P. Valek R. J. Wilson E. J. Zirnstein Europa Modifies Jupiter's Plasma Sheet Geophysical Research Letters |
| title | Europa Modifies Jupiter's Plasma Sheet |
| title_full | Europa Modifies Jupiter's Plasma Sheet |
| title_fullStr | Europa Modifies Jupiter's Plasma Sheet |
| title_full_unstemmed | Europa Modifies Jupiter's Plasma Sheet |
| title_short | Europa Modifies Jupiter's Plasma Sheet |
| title_sort | europa modifies jupiter s plasma sheet |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105809 |
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