SM31C-2518
Initial Predictions of Outflow Rates from Jupiter's Ionosphere
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Katherine Garcia-Sage1,2, Alex Glocer1, Jared Micheal Bell3, Gabor Toth4 and George V Khazanov5, (1)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (2)Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, United States, (3)National Institute of Aerospace, Yorktown, VA, United States, (4)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (5)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Heliophysics Sci. Div., Greenbelt, MD, United States
Abstract:
Although Voyager 2 observations of H3+ in Jupiter's magnetosphere indicate an ionospheric source of plasma, very little work has been done to predict outflow rates from Jupiter's ionosphere. We use the Polar Wind Outflow Model (PWOM), originally developed for Saturn and Earth, to model outflow at Jupiter. We use a neutral atmosphere and atmosphere-ionosphere chemistry from the Jupiter-Global Ionosphere and Thermosphere Model (J-GITM) model and solve the field-aligned gyrotropic transport equations along open flux tubes. The model includes the effects of topside electron heat flux, collisional heating, and photoionization. We describe a new modeling approach that includes a kinetic description of superthermal photoelectrons and secondary electron production. We show the preliminary results for vertical transport and outflow of ionospheric H+, H2+, and H3+. These results provide initial predictions for ion populations that Juno may observe over Jupiter's polar regions.
