Bremen 2017 – scientific programme
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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik
EP 10: Planeten und kleine Körper I
EP 10.2: Talk
Thursday, March 16, 2017, 09:00–09:15, GW2 B2880
Io's plasma interaction with Jupiter's magnetosphere: Influence of global asymmetries in Io's atmosphere and volcanic plumes on the plasma environment — •Aljona Blöcker1, Joachim Saur1, and Lorenz Roth2 — 1Institut für Geophysik und Meteorologie, Universität zu Köln — 2KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Io's atmosphere is supported by sublimation of SO2 surface frost and by direct volcanic outgassing of SO2, where the detailed longitudinal and latitudinal structure is not fully known. We apply a 3D MHD model to analyze the effects of an asymmetric atmosphere and the role of volcanic plumes on the plasma interaction. Therefore, we use different atmosphere models with longitudinal and latitudinal dependencies. We compare our model results with Io's magnetic field environment measured with the Magnetometer of the Galileo spacecraft. We demonstrate that significant parts of the magnetic field perturbations, associated with the induction signals by Khurana et al. (Science 2011) can alternatively be explained by considering global asymmetries of the atmosphere without induced fields from a subsurface magma ocean.