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WE PROPOSE A COMPREHENSIVE DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND THE VARIATIONS IN THE THICKNESS AND THE PLASMA CONTENT OF JOVIAN MAGNETOSPHERIC CURRENT SHEET IN SPACE AND TIME TO HELP INFER HOW EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DRIVERS INFLUENCE THE TRANSPORT AND REDISTRIBUTION OF PLASMA IN JUPITER'S MAGNETOSPHERE. THE PROPOSED STUDY WOULD HELP US UNDERSTAND HOW FACTORS SUCH AS FIELD LINE TOPOLOGY PLASMA PRESSURE GRADIENT FORCE CENTRIFUGAL FORCE PITCH ANGLE ANISOTROPIES AND TRANSPORT DRIVEN BY SOLAR WIND DRIVEN RECONNECTION WORK TOGETHER TO CONFINE AND SHAPE THE JOVIAN PLASMA RESERVOIR. IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF VARIOUS MAGNETOSPHERIC PROCESSES IN SHAPING THE CURRENT SHEET WE PROPOSE THE FOLLOWING TASKS. WE WOULD FIRST ASSEMBLE A DATABASE OF MAGNETIC FIELD ELECTRON DENSITY AND ENERGETIC PARTICLES IN JUPITER'S MAGNETOSPHERE. WE WOULD DEVELOP AND USE NEW TECHNIQUES TO QUANTITATIVELY MODEL BOTH THE MAGNETIC FIELD AND ELECTRON DENSITY DATA AS HARRIS-TYPE CURRENT SHEETS RESULTING IN GLOBAL MAPS OF THICKNESS AND PLASMA CONTENT OF JOVIAN CURRENT SHEET FOR ALL LOCAL TIMES AND RADIAL DISTANCES AND ALSO ANY VARIATIONS CAUSED IN IT BY TEMPORAL PROCESSES. SPECIAL ATTENTION WOULD BE PAID TO FIND OUT IF DIFFERENT PLASMA POPULATIONS OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE SUCH AS COLD AND HEAVY PLASMA SUBJECT TO CENTRIFUGAL FORCE HOT AND LIGHT PLASMA INFLATED BY THE PRESSURE FORCE AND THE EXTREMELY MOBILE ELECTRONS FOLLOW DIFFERENT SCALE HEIGHTS IN THE CURRENT SHEET. THE DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING EFFORT WOULD BE SUPPLEMENTED WITH THEORETICAL ANALYSES TO UNDERSTAND HOW EACH OF THE FACTORS SUCH AS FIELD LINE TOPOLOGY PLASMA PRESSURE GRADIENT FORCE AND CENTRIFUGAL FORCE PLAY THEIR ROLE IN DETERMINING THE PLASMA CONTENT OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE. FINALLY WE WOULD ASSIMILATE THE NEW INFORMATION ON CURRENT SHEET THICKNESS INTO A GLOBAL MODEL OF JOVIAN MAGNETOSPHERIC FIELD USING THE TECHNIQUE OF GENERALIZED DEFORMATION. OUR WORK WOULD PROVIDE VALUABLE INSIGHTS INTO HOW LOCAL TIME ASYMMETRIES ARE GENERATED AND MAINTAINED IN JUPITER'S MAGNETOSPHERE. OUR WORK WOULD ALSO SHED LIGHT ON THE TIME SCALES OF PLASMA FILLING AND LOSS IN THE JOVIAN MAGNETOSPHERE. OUR FINDINGS WOULD BE OF GREAT INTEREST TO OTHER SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS ESPECIALLY OTHER FAST ROTATING MAGNETOSPHERES. THE PROJECT WILL USE MAGNETOMETER DATA FROM PIONEER VOYAGER ULYSSES AND GALILEO SPACECRAFT ELECTRON DENSITY DATA DERIVED FROM THE PLASMA WAVE SPECTROMETER ONBOARD GALILEO AND ENERGETIC PARTICLE DATA FROM THE EPD INSTRUMENT ONBOARD GALILEO. ALL OF THE DATASETS ARE AVAILABLE IN THE PDS ARCHIVE.

$448,068FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of California, Los Angeles

Investigators

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WE PROPOSE A COMPREHENSIVE DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND THE VARIATIONS IN THE THICKNESS AND THE PLASMA CONTENT OF JOVIAN MAGNETOSPHERIC CURRENT SHEET IN SPACE AND TIME TO HELP INFER HOW EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL DRIVERS INFLUENCE THE TRANSPORT AND REDISTRIBUTION OF PLASMA IN JUPITER'S MAGNETOSPHERE. THE PROPOSED STUDY WOULD HELP US UNDERSTAND HOW FACTORS SUCH AS FIELD LINE TOPOLOGY PLASMA PRESSURE GRADIENT FORCE CENTRIFUGAL FORCE PITCH ANGLE ANISOTROPIES AND TRANSPORT DRIVEN BY SOLAR WIND DRIVEN RECONNECTION WORK TOGETHER TO CONFINE AND SHAPE THE JOVIAN PLASMA RESERVOIR. IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF VARIOUS MAGNETOSPHERIC PROCESSES IN SHAPING THE CURRENT SHEET WE PROPOSE THE FOLLOWING TASKS. WE WOULD FIRST ASSEMBLE A DATABASE OF MAGNETIC FIELD ELECTRON DENSITY AND ENERGETIC PARTICLES IN JUPITER'S MAGNETOSPHERE. WE WOULD DEVELOP AND USE NEW TECHNIQUES TO QUANTITATIVELY MODEL BOTH THE MAGNETIC FIELD AND ELECTRON DENSITY DATA AS HARRIS-TYPE CURRENT SHEETS RESULTING IN GLOBAL MAPS OF THICKNESS AND PLASMA CONTENT OF JOVIAN CURRENT SHEET FOR ALL LOCAL TIMES AND RADIAL DISTANCES AND ALSO ANY VARIATIONS CAUSED IN IT BY TEMPORAL PROCESSES. SPECIAL ATTENTION WOULD BE PAID TO FIND OUT IF DIFFERENT PLASMA POPULATIONS OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE SUCH AS COLD AND HEAVY PLASMA SUBJECT TO CENTRIFUGAL FORCE HOT AND LIGHT PLASMA INFLATED BY THE PRESSURE FORCE AND THE EXTREMELY MOBILE ELECTRONS FOLLOW DIFFERENT SCALE HEIGHTS IN THE CURRENT SHEET. THE DATA ANALYSIS AND MODELING EFFORT WOULD BE SUPPLEMENTED WITH THEORETICAL ANALYSES TO UNDERSTAND HOW EACH OF THE FACTORS SUCH AS FIELD LINE TOPOLOGY PLASMA PRESSURE GRADIENT FORCE AND CENTRIFUGAL FORCE PLAY THEIR ROLE IN DETERMINING THE PLASMA CONTENT OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE. FINALLY WE WOULD ASSIMILATE THE NEW INFORMATION ON CURRENT SHEET THICKNESS INTO A GLOBAL MODEL OF JOVIAN MAGNETOSPHERIC FIELD USING THE TECHNIQUE OF GENERALIZED DEFORMATION. OUR WORK WOULD PROVIDE VALUABLE INSIGHTS INTO HOW LOCAL TIME ASYMMETRIES ARE GENERATED AND MAINTAINED IN JUPITER'S MAGNETOSPHERE. OUR WORK WOULD ALSO SHED LIGHT ON THE TIME SCALES OF PLASMA FILLING AND LOSS IN THE JOVIAN MAGNETOSPHERE. OUR FINDINGS WOULD BE OF GREAT INTEREST TO OTHER SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS ESPECIALLY OTHER FAST ROTATING MAGNETOSPHERES. THE PROJECT WILL USE MAGNETOMETER DATA FROM PIONEER VOYAGER ULYSSES AND GALILEO SPACECRAFT ELECTRON DENSITY DATA DERIVED FROM THE PLASMA WAVE SPECTROMETER ONBOARD GALILEO AND ENERGETIC PARTICLE DATA FROM THE EPD INSTRUMENT ONBOARD GALILEO. ALL OF THE DATASETS ARE AVAILABLE IN THE PDS ARCHIVE. · GrantIndex