HR: 16:00h
AN: SM44A-01 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: New Horizons Plasma Observations of Jupiter's Magnetotail to >2500 R_J
AU: * McComas*, D J
EM: dmccomas@swri.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228, United States
AB: (*On behalf of the New Horizons Plasma Science Team.) Observations from the New Horizons spacecraft as it traversed down the jovian magnetotail to >2500 jovian radii (R_J) reveal a remarkable diversity of plasma populations and structures. At ~~100 R_J the ions evolved from a hot plasma disk distribution to slower flows down the tail that persisted and became increasingly variable in flux and mean energy. The plasma was highly structured with numerous sharp discontinuities, gradual boundaries, and apparent plasmoids, and contained a variable mixture of plasma from Io and Jupiter's ionosphere with intense bursts of ionospheric H⁺ and H₃⁺. We observed 10 hour quasi-periodicities in flux far from the plasma disk at ~~450 R_J, and again at ~~1500 R_J, just inside the magnetopause and magnetopause boundary layer. We also found a 3-4 day quasi-periodicity in flow speed, most prominently from ~~600-1000 R_J, which may be indicative of large, expanding plasmoids moving down the tail. This talk summarizes the findings of McComas et al. [2007] and provides an update on the team's subsequent analysis efforts. McComas, D.J., F. Allegrini, F. Bagenal, F. Crary, R.W. Ebert, H. Elliott, A. Stern, and P. Valek, Diverse Plasma Populations and Structures in Jupiter's Magnetotail, Science, 2007.
DE: 2756 Planetary magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6033)
DE: 2764 Plasma sheet
DE: 5443 Magnetospheres (2756)
SC: SPA-Magnetospheric Physics [SM]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting