Water-Group Pickup Ions From Europa-Genic Neutrals Orbiting Jupiter

© 2022. The Authors.

Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Geophysical research letters. - 1984. - 49(2022), 9 vom: 16. Mai, Seite e2022GL098111
1. Verfasser: Szalay, J R (VerfasserIn)
Weitere Verfasser: Smith, H T, Zirnstein, E J, McComas, D J, Begley, L J, Bagenal, F, Delamere, P A, Wilson, R J, Valek, P W, Poppe, A R, Nénon, Q, Allegrini, F, Ebert, R W, Bolton, S J
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: 2022
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:Geophysical research letters
Schlagworte:Journal Article
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:© 2022. The Authors.
Water-group gas continuously escapes from Jupiter's icy moons to form co-orbiting populations of particles or neutral toroidal clouds. These clouds provide insights into their source moons as they reveal loss processes and compositions of their parent bodies, alter local plasma composition, and act as sources and sinks for magnetospheric particles. We report the first observations of H2 + pickup ions in Jupiter's magnetosphere from 13 to 18 Jovian radii and find a density ratio of H2 +/H+ = 8 ± 4%, confirming the presence of a neutral H2 toroidal cloud. Pickup ion densities monotonically decrease radially beyond 13 R J consistent with an advecting Europa-genic toroidal cloud source. From these observations, we derive a total H2 neutral loss rate from Europa of 1.2 ± 0.7 kg s-1. This provides the most direct estimate of Europa's H2 neutral loss rate to date and underscores the importance of both ion composition and neutral toroidal clouds in understanding satellite-magnetosphere interactions
Beschreibung:Date Revised 31.08.2024
published: Print-Electronic
Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE
ISSN:0094-8276
DOI:10.1029/2022GL098111