NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
A dawn to dusk electric field in the Jovian magnetosphereIt is shown that if Io-injected plasma is lost via a planetary wind-fixed Birkeland current system may result. This is due to the fact that the azimuthal centrifugal current flows across a density gradient produced by the loss of plasma through the planetary wind in the tail. The divergent centrifugal current is connected to field-aligned Birkeland currents which flow into the ionosphere at dawn and out of it at dusk. The closure currents in the ionosphere require a dawn to dusk electric field which at the orbit of Io is estimated to have a strength of 0.2 mV/m. However, the values of crucial parameters are not well known and the field at Io's orbit may well be significantly larger. Independent estimates derived from the local time asymmetry of the torus UV emission indicate a field of 1.5 mV/m.
Document ID
19840010068
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Contractor Report (CR)
Authors
Goertz, C. K.
(Iowa Univ. Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany)
Ip, W. I.
(Max-Planck-Inst. fuer Aeronomie)
Date Acquired
September 4, 2013
Publication Date
March 1, 1983
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Report/Patent Number
NAS 1.26:166463
U-OF-IOWA-83-4
NASA-CR-166463
Accession Number
84N18136
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS2-6553
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available