[1] We present a time-independent model of Jupiter's rotation-driven aurora based on angular momentum conservation, including the effects of a field-aligned potential (F k ) and an ionospheric conductivity that is modified by precipitating electrons. We argue that F k arises from a limit to field-aligned current at high latitudes, and hence, we apply a currentvoltage relation, which takes into account the low plasma densities at high latitudes. The resulting set of nonlinear equations that govern the behavior of angular momentum transfer is underconstrained and leads to a set of solutions, including those derived in earlier work. We show that solutions with high angular momentum transfer, large radial currents, and small mass transport rates ( _ M ≤ 1000 kg/s) exist. Our set of solutions can reproduce many of the observed characteristics of Jupiter's main auroral oval, including the energy of the precipitating electrons, the energy flux into the ionosphere, the width of the aurora at the ionosphere, and net radial current across the field for a radial mass transport value of ∼500 kg/s.Citation: Ray, L. C., R. E. Ergun, P. A. Delamere, and F. Bagenal (2010), Magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling at Jupiter: Effect of field-aligned potentials on angular momentum transport,

Auroral hot spots are observed across the Universe at different scales 1 and mark the coupling between a surrounding plasma environment and an atmosphere. Within our own solar system, Jupiter possesses the only resolvable example of this large-scale energy transfer. Jupiter's Northern X-ray aurora is concentrated into a hot spot, which is located at the most poleward regions of the planet's aurora and pulses either periodically 2,3 or irregularly 4,5 . X-ray emission line spectra demonstrate that Jupiter's Northern hot spot is produced by ~10s MeV high charge-state oxygen, sulphur and/or carbon ions 4-6 undergoing charge exchange. Observations instead failed to reveal a similar feature in the South 2,3,7,8 . Here, we report the existence of a persistent Southern X-ray hot spot. Surprisingly, this large-scale Southern auroral structure behaves independently of its Northern counterpart. Using XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray campaigns, performed in May-June 2016 and March 2007, we show that Jupiter's Northern and Southern spots each exhibit different characteristics, such as different periodic pulsations and uncorrelated changes in brightness. These observations imply that highly energetic, non-conjugate magnetospheric processes sometimes drive the polar regions of Jupiter's dayside magnetosphere. This is in contrast with current models of X-ray generation for Jupiter 9,10 . Understanding the behaviour and drivers of Jupiter's pair of hot spots is critical to the use of X-rays as diagnostics of the wide-range of rapidly rotating celestial bodies that exhibit these auroral phenomena.

Saturn's magnetic field acts as an obstacle to solar wind flow, deflecting plasma around the planet and forming a cavity known as the magnetosphere. The magnetopause defines the boundary between the planetary and solar dominated regimes, and so is strongly influenced by the variable nature of pressure sources both outside and within. Following from Pilkington et al. (2014), crossings of the magnetopause are identified using 7 years of magnetic field and particle data from the Cassini spacecraft and providing unprecedented spatial coverage of the magnetopause boundary. These observations reveal a dynamical interaction where, in addition to the external influence of the solar wind dynamic pressure, internal drivers, and hot plasma dynamics in particular can take almost complete control of the system's dayside shape and size, essentially defying the solar wind conditions. The magnetopause can move by up to 10–15 planetary radii at constant solar wind dynamic pressure, corresponding to relatively “plasma‐loaded” or “plasma‐depleted” states, defined in terms of the internal suprathermal plasma pressure.

Planetary magnetospheres receive plasma and energy from the Sun or moons of planets and consequently stretch magnetic field lines. The process may last for varied timescales at different planets. From time to time, energy is rapidly released in the magnetosphere and subsequently precipitated into the ionosphere and upper atmosphere. Usually, this energy dissipation is associated with magnetic dipolarization in the magnetosphere.This process is accompanied by plasma acceleration and field-aligned current formation, and subsequently auroral emissions are often significantly enhanced. Using measurements from multiple instruments on board the Cassini spacecraft, we reveal that magnetic dipolarization events at Saturn could reoccur after one planetary rotation and name them as recurrent dipolarizations. Three events are presented, including one from the dayside magnetosphere, which has no known precedent with terrestrial magnetospheric observations. During these events, recurrent energizations of plasma (electrons or ions) were also detected, which clearly demonstrate that these processes shall not be simply attributed to modulation of planetary periodic oscillation, although we do not exclude the possibility that the planetary periodic oscillation may modulate other processes (e.g., magnetic reconnection) which energizes particles. We discuss the potential physical mechanisms for generating the recurrent dipolarization process in a comprehensive view, including aurora and energetic neutral atom emissions. Plain Language SummaryUsing measurements from the Cassini spacecraft, we reveal a new feature of magnetic dipolarization at Saturn, that is, the magnetic signature repeat after one planetary rotation, which is named recurrent dipolarization. Up to hundreds of kiloelectron volt electrons and ions are identified for the recurrent dipolarization events, suggesting that these particles have experienced efficient acceleration and cannot be purely due to planetary modulation. It remains a mystery why the magnetic dipolarization process associated with energetic ions and electrons could reoccur after one planetary rotation. Moreover, dipolarization process in Saturn's dayside magnetosphere is reported for the first time at Saturn, which has no known precedent with terrestrial or other planetary magnetospheric observations. The results demonstrate that magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling dynamics at Saturn and Earth have fundamental similarities and differences.

[1] Observations of Jupiter's auroral regions indicate that electrons are accelerated into Jupiter's atmosphere creating emissions. The acceleration of the electrons intimate that parallel electric fields and field-aligned currents develop along the flux tubes which connect the equatorial plane to the areas with auroral emission. The relationship between the development of parallel electric fields and the parallel currents is often assumed to be the same as that on Earth. However, the relationship is significantly different at Jupiter due to a lack of plasma at high latitudes as large centrifugal forces caused by Jupiter's fast rotation period (about 9.8 h) constrain the magnetospheric plasma to the equatorial plane. We use a 1-D spatial, 2-D velocity space Vlasov code which has been modified to include centrifugal forces to examine the current-voltage relationship that exists at Jupiter. In particular, we investigate this relationship at a distance of 5.9 Jovian radii, the orbital radius of Io, which is coupled with the auroral spot and Io wake auroral emissions.

The ionization of neutral material ejected by Jupiter's volcanically active moon, Io, results in a plasma disc that extends from Io's orbit out through the Jovian magnetosphere. This magnetospheric plasma is coupled to the planetary ionosphere via currents which flow along the magnetic field. Inside of ∼40 R J , these currents transfer angular momentum from the planet to the magnetospheric plasma, in an attempt to keep the plasma rigidly corotating with the planet. Jupiter's main auroral emission is a signature of this current system. To date, one-dimensional models of Jupiter's magnetosphere-ionosphere (M-I) coupling have either assumed a dipole field or used a field description appropriate to the postmidnight region of the Jovian magnetosphere. Vogt et al. (2011) described the variation of the N-S component of the magnetic field in the center of the current sheet, B N , with local time and radius. We apply a 1-D model of Jupiter's M-I current system every hour in local time using a modified description of the Vogt et al. (2011) magnetic field to investigate how local time variations in the magnetosphere affect the auroral currents and plasma angular velocity. Our model predicts the strongest aurora at dawn, with a minimum in the auroral currents existing from noon through dusk. This is a few hours duskward of the discontinuity predicted by Radioti et al. (2008). While our model predictions are consistent with some of the observations, future MI coupling models must account for the azimuthal bendback in the magnetic field.

We analyzed two observations obtained in Jan. 2013, consisting of spatial scans of the Jovian 30 north ultraviolet aurora with the HST Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) in the spectroscopic mode. The color ratio (CR) method, which relates the wavelength-dependent absorption of the FUV spectra to the mean energy of the precipitating electrons, allowed us to determine important characteristics of the entire auroral region. The results show that the spatial distribution of the precipitating electron energy is far from uniform. The morning main emission arc is associated with 35 mean energies of around 265 keV, the afternoon main emission (kink region) has energies near 105 keV, while the 'flare' emissions poleward of the main oval are characterized by electrons in the 50-85 keV range. A small scale structure observed in the discontinuity region is related to electrons of 232 keV and the Ganymede footprint shows energies of 157 keV. Interestingly, each specific region shows very similar behavior for the two separate observations. 40The Io footprint shows a weak but undeniable hydrocarbon absorption, which is not consistent with altitudes of the Io emission profiles (~900 km relative to the 1 bar level) determined from HST-ACS observations. An upward shift of the hydrocarbon homopause of at least 100 km is required to reconcile the high altitude of the emission and hydrocarbon absorption.The relationship between the energy fluxes and the electron energies has been compared to 45 curves obtained from Knight's theory of field-aligned currents. Assuming a fixed electron temperature of 2.5 keV, an electron source population density of ~800 m -3 and ~2400 m -3 is obtained for the morning main emission and kink regions, respectively. Magnetospheric electron densities are lowered for the morning main emission (~600 m -3 ) if the relativistic version of Knight's theory is applied.Lyman and Werner H 2 emission profiles resulting from secondary electrons, produced by 50 precipitation of heavy ions in the 1-2 MeV/u range, have been applied to our model. The low CR 3 obtained from this emission suggests that heavy ions, presumably the main source of the X-ray aurora, do not significantly contribute to typical UV polar emission. 4 1.Introduction 55 BackgroundThe ultraviolet Jovian aurora is mainly produced by the interaction between the H 2 atmosphere and precipitating magnetospheric electrons. In the far ultraviolet (FUV, between 1200 and 1700 Å), the emission is dominated by the Lyman-α line from atomic hydrogen resulting from H 2 dissociation and H 2 vibronic lines from the Lyman ( 1 ∑ + → 1 ∑ + ) and Werner ( 1 ∏ + → 1 ∑ + ) system bands. The 60 auroral emission is known to interact with the atmosphere through absorption by the main hydrocarbons. Methane (CH 4 ) attenuates the emission at wavelengths below 1400 Å, ethane (C 2 H 6 ), which has a continuous absorption cross-section shortward of 1550 Å, has a typical signature between 1400 and 1480 Å in the case of strongly attenuated spectra, and acetylene (C...

We present an investigation into the currents within the Jovian magnetodisc using all available spacecraft magnetometer data up until 28 July 2018. Using automated data analysis processes as well as the most recent intrinsic field and current disk geometry models, a full local time coverage of the magnetodisc currents using 7,382 lobe traversals over 39 years is constructed. Our study demonstrates clear local time asymmetries in both the radial and azimuthal height‐integrated current densities throughout the current disk. Asymmetries persist within 30 R normalJ where most models assume axisymmetry. Inward radial currents are found in the previously unmapped dusk and noon sectors. Azimuthal currents are found to be weaker in the dayside magnetosphere than the nightside, in agreement with global magnetohydrodynamic simulations. The divergence of the azimuthal and radial currents indicates that downward field‐aligned currents exist within the outer dayside magnetosphere. The presence of azimuthal currents is shown to highly influence the location of the field‐aligned currents, which emphasizes the importance of the azimuthal currents in future magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling models. Integrating the divergence of the height‐integrated current densities, we find that 1.87 MA R normalJ−2 of return current density required for system closure is absent.