Multi-instrument study of the Jovian radio emissions triggered by solar wind shocks and inferred magnetospheric subcorotation rates

Author(s)

Hess, S. L. G. ^[1] ; Echer, E. ^[2] ; Zarka, P. ^[1] ; Lamy, L. ^[1] ; Delamere, P. A. ^[3]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Paris Diderot, UPMC, CNRS, LESIA, Observ Paris, F-92190 Meudon - France

^[2] INPE Natl Inst Space Sci, Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Planetary and Space Science; v. 99, p. 136-148, SEP 2014.
• Web of Science Citations: 17

Abstract

The influence of solar wind conditions on the Jovian auroral radio emissions has long been debated, mostly because it has always been difficult to get accurate solar wind and radio observations at the same time. We present here a study of Jupiter's radio emissions compared to solar wind conditions using radio (RPWS) and magnetic (MAG) data from the Cassini spacecraft from October to December 2000, just before its flyby of Jupiter. The spacecraft was then in the solar wind and could record both the radio emissions coming from the Jovian magnetosphere and the solar wind magnetic field (IMF). With these data, we found a good correspondence between the arrival of interplanetary shocks at Jupiter and the occurrence of radio storms. Our results confirm those from the previous studies showing that fast forward shocks (FFS) trigger mostly dusk emissions, whereas fast reverse shocks (FRS) trigger both dawn and dusk emissions. FFS-triggered emissions are found to occur 10-30 h after the shock arrival when the IMF is weak (below 2 nT), and quasi-immediately after shock arrival when the IMF is strong (above 2 nT). FRS-triggered emissions are found to occur quasi-immediately even when the IMF is weak. We show and discuss in depth the characteristic morphologies of the radio emissions related to each type of shock and their implications. We also used simultaneous radio observations from the ground-based Nancay decameter array and from the Galileo radio instrument (PWS). From the comparison of these measurements with Cassini's, we deduce the regions where the radio storms occur, as well as the radio source subcorotation rates. We show that FFS-triggered emissions onset happens in a sector of local time centered around 15:00 LT, and that all the shock-triggered radio sources sub-corotate with a subcorotation rate of similar to 50% when the IMF is below 2 nT and of similar to 80% when it is above 2 nT. These rates could correspond to the extended and compressed states of the Jovian magnetosphere. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. (AU)