HR: 1330h
AN: SM22B-0252    [PDF]
TI: Statistics of Depleted Flux Tubes in the Jovian Magnetosphere
AU: * Russell, C T
EM: ctrussell@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: University of California Los Angeles, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 United States
AU: Kivelson, M G
EM: mkivelson@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: University of California Los Angeles, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 United States
AU: Khurana, K K
EM: kkhurana@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: University of California Los Angeles, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1567 United States
AB: On many of its passes through the Io torus the Galileo spacecraft has detected the presence of thin magnetic flux tubes with fields somewhat higher than their surroundings. In these tubes the magnetic pressure is higher than in neighboring tubes to such an extent that it is possible that the plasma contribution to the pressure is insignificant. These tubes occupy 0.32% of the torus outside of the orbit of Io. None are found inside. Their strength indicates that the ratio of the thermal pressure to magnetic pressure in the outer torus is about 2%. Comparison of the observed electron density in the neighborhood of these tubes indicates that the ion temperature is in the range 30-100 eV, consistent with other estimates. The amount of magnetic flux transported by these thin tubes could supply the amount of magnetic flux mass-loaded and transported to the magnetotail if the inward velocity is about 300 times that of the outward transport. Finally, the thin flux tubes are found in clusters as if they would occur if they resulted from the breakup of larger flux tubes.
DE: 5737 Magnetospheres (2756)
DE: 6220 Jupiter
SC: SPA - Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting