Rights statement: An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2018 American Geophysical Union. Yates, J. N., Ray, L. C., & Achilleos, N. ( 2018). An initial study into the long‐term influence of solar wind dynamic pressure on Jupiter's thermosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 123, 9357– 9369. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JA025828 To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI.
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - An Initial Study Into the Long-Term Influence of Solar Wind Dynamic Pressure on Jupiter's Thermosphere
AU - Yates, J. N.
AU - Ray, L. C.
AU - Achilleos, N.
N1 - An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2018 American Geophysical Union. Yates, J. N., Ray, L. C., & Achilleos, N. ( 2018). An initial study into the long‐term influence of solar wind dynamic pressure on Jupiter's thermosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 123, 9357– 9369. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JA025828 To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI.
PY - 2018/11/1
Y1 - 2018/11/1
N2 - Jupiter's thermosphere is ∼700 K hotter than expected if it were heated only by solar extreme ultraviolet radiation. Other, more effective heat sources are therefore necessary to explain the high observed temperatures ≥900 K. It has been suggested that heating resulting from the atmospheric interaction with Jupiter's dynamic magnetosphere could account for the excess heat required. However to date, no numerical models have been successful at reproducing Jupiter's hot thermosphere without invoking essentially ad hoc heating mechanisms. Work presented in Yates et al. (2014, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2013.11.009) emphasized the importance of incorporating time dependence in magnetosphere‐ionosphere‐thermosphere coupling when simulating this aspect of the Jovian system. We extend their model (for a single magnetospheric compression or expansion) to simulate the response of thermospheric heating to multiple shocks and rarefactions in the solar wind for the first time. We employ a configurable magnetosphere model coupled to an azimuthally symmetric general circulation model. We compare the response of thermospheric temperatures to these consecutive magnetospheric reconfigurations over a period of 100 Jovian rotations. We find that the thermal structure of our model thermosphere does not respond significantly to such a prolonged period of magnetospheric reconfigurations. Thermospheric mean temperatures increase by a maximum of ∼15 K throughout our simulation. The high‐latitude and high‐altitude thermosphere is most influenced by magnetospheric reconfigurations. While this simulation shows that magnetospheric reconfigurations can heat the thermosphere, it also shows the need to consider a more realistic representation of the coupled Jovian system as well as alternate sources of heating not dependent on the magnetosphere.
AB - Jupiter's thermosphere is ∼700 K hotter than expected if it were heated only by solar extreme ultraviolet radiation. Other, more effective heat sources are therefore necessary to explain the high observed temperatures ≥900 K. It has been suggested that heating resulting from the atmospheric interaction with Jupiter's dynamic magnetosphere could account for the excess heat required. However to date, no numerical models have been successful at reproducing Jupiter's hot thermosphere without invoking essentially ad hoc heating mechanisms. Work presented in Yates et al. (2014, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2013.11.009) emphasized the importance of incorporating time dependence in magnetosphere‐ionosphere‐thermosphere coupling when simulating this aspect of the Jovian system. We extend their model (for a single magnetospheric compression or expansion) to simulate the response of thermospheric heating to multiple shocks and rarefactions in the solar wind for the first time. We employ a configurable magnetosphere model coupled to an azimuthally symmetric general circulation model. We compare the response of thermospheric temperatures to these consecutive magnetospheric reconfigurations over a period of 100 Jovian rotations. We find that the thermal structure of our model thermosphere does not respond significantly to such a prolonged period of magnetospheric reconfigurations. Thermospheric mean temperatures increase by a maximum of ∼15 K throughout our simulation. The high‐latitude and high‐altitude thermosphere is most influenced by magnetospheric reconfigurations. While this simulation shows that magnetospheric reconfigurations can heat the thermosphere, it also shows the need to consider a more realistic representation of the coupled Jovian system as well as alternate sources of heating not dependent on the magnetosphere.
U2 - 10.1029/2018JA025828
DO - 10.1029/2018JA025828
M3 - Journal article
VL - 123
SP - 9357
EP - 9369
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
SN - 2169-9380
IS - 11
ER -