Large-scale episodic enhancements of relativistic electron intensities in Jupiter's radiation belt

Abstract

Previous studies indicate that, in the Jovian magnetosphere, the long-term trend of the radial profile of relativistic electron intensities is primarily shaped by slow radial diffusion. However, measurements by the Galileo spacecraft reveal the existence of transient increases in MeV electron intensities well above the ambient distribution. It is unclear how common such transient enhancements are, and to which dynamic processes in Jupiter's magnetosphere their occurrence is linked. We investigate the radial distributions of \begin{document}$>$\end{document}11 MeV and \begin{document}$>$\end{document}1 MeV electron intensities from \begin{document}$9R_{J}$\end{document} to \begin{document}$40R_{J}$\end{document} (\begin{document}$R_{J}=71492\;{\rm{km}}$\end{document} denotes the Jovian radius), measured by the Galileo spacecraft from 1996 to 2002. We find transient enhancements of MeV electrons during seven Galileo crossings, mostly occurring around ~20RJ. An apparent dawn-dusk asymmetry of their occurrence is resolved, with a majority of events discovered at dawn. This dawn-dusk asymmetry, as well as the average recurrence time scale of a few days, implies a potential relationship between the MeV electron transients and the storm-like dynamics in the middle and outer magnetosphere detected using a variety of Galileo, Juno and remote sensing aurora observations. We suggest that the observations of some of these transients in the inner magnetosphere may result from a synergy between the convective transport by a large-scale dawn-dusk electric field and the sources provided by injections in the middle magnetosphere.

Keywords

• radiation belt
• jupiter
• relativistic electrons
• magnetosphere