SM33A-06:
The influence of variations in Jupiter's plasma environment on the Europa interaction
Wednesday, 17 December 2014: 2:55 PM
Joseph H Westlake1, Anthony W Case2, Xianzhe Jia3, Justin Christophe Kasper3, Krishan K Khurana4, Margaret Kivelson4, Ralph L McNutt Jr5, Carol S Paty6, Abigail M Rymer7, Joachim Saur8, James A Slavin9, Howard Todd Smith7 and Michael Louis Stevens10, (1)JHUAPL, Laurel, MD, United States, (2)Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA, United States, (3)University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (4)University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, (5)Johns Hopkins Univ/APL, Laurel, MD, United States, (6)Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States, (7)Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins, Laurel, MD, United States, (8)University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, (9)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (10)Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory, Cambridge, MA, United States
Abstract:
We present a multidisciplinary study of the influence of variations in Jupiter’s corotational plasma environment on the details of the Europa interaction and the production of Europa’s sputtered atmosphere. We build upon the measurements of the Voyager and Galileo spacecraft with updated models of the Jovian plasma environment and its interaction with Europa. We specifically discuss how plasma perturbations affect the accuracy with which Europa’s induction signature can be extracted from measurements and the resulting fidelity of any quantities obtained related to ocean depth and salinity.
