A Survey of Solar Wind Conditions at 5 AU: A Tool For Interpreting Solar Wind-Magnetosphere Interactions at Jupiter During Juno

Robert W Ebert, University of Texas at San Antonio, Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Antonio, United States, Fran Bagenal, University of Colorado Boulder, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, United States, David J McComas, Southwest Research Institute San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States, Christopher M Fowler, West Virginia University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Morgantown, United States and Heather Alison Elliott, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, United States
Abstract:
We present a study of Ulysses solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) observations at 5 AU for two ~ 13 month intervals during solar cycle 23 and the predicted response of the Jovian magnetosphere during these times. We compare declining phase solar wind, composed primarily of corotating interaction regions and high-speed streams, and rising phase solar wind, composed mainly of slow solar wind and interplanetary coronal mass ejections, along with the distribution of predicted Jupiter bow shock and magnetopause standoff distances for these intervals. These results are expected to provide data-derived solar wind and IMF boundary conditions at 5 AU for models aimed at studying solar wind-magnetosphere interactions at Jupiter and can support the science investigations of upcoming Jupiter system missions. Here, we provide expectations for Juno, which is scheduled to arrive at Jupiter in July 2016 and identify periods where 1 AU spacecraft can be used to infer the solar wind conditions upstream of Jupiter during the Juno mission.
Back to: Magnetospheres in the Solar System II