Evidence of Alfvénic Activity in Jupiter's Mid‐To‐High Latitude Magnetosphere

Lorch, C. T. S., Ray, L. C., Wilson, R. J., Bagenal, F., Crary, F., Delamere, P. A., Damiano, P. A., Watt, Clare and Allegrini, F. (2022) Evidence of Alfvénic Activity in Jupiter's Mid‐To‐High Latitude Magnetosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 127 (6). e2021JA029853. ISSN 2169-9380

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Abstract

Using a combination of Juno magnetometer and plasma data, we show evidence of Alfvénic turbulence within the mid‐to‐high latitude magnetosphere with sufficient conditions to trigger auroral particle acceleration. We analyze 12 events that, in agreement with theoretical results, are found to be dissipative at the electron inertial scale. Furthermore, these events contain significant Poynting flux in the range ∼0.8–20 mW/m2 at ionospheric altitudes. This is sufficient to generate auroral emissions. We confirm that such events are incompressible, confirming their Alfvénicity, occur at dissipative scales, have intermittent features present and are multifractal in nature. These results illustrate the importance of turbulence in the mid‐to‐high latitudes of Jupiter's magnetosphere as a driver of particle acceleration.

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