Density structures in the Jovian magnetosphere

This paper continues the work of Ansher et al. (1992) by identifying and examining density structures in Jupiter's magnetosphere. The 110 hours of data used are from a 4-second temporal resolution density data set derived from plasma wave instruments on board both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. One hundred five structures are identified. They are believed to be the same type of structures as seen by Ansher et al. (1992) and are found to have sharp density gradients at the boundaries, average scale sizes of about one Jovian radius, and typical density variations between 50% and 200% of the background. Many structures show good correlation with the magnetic field data. In addition, the existence of the density structures has little if any dependence on radial distance from Jupiter, System III longitude, or magnetic latitude. Comparison with four plasma transport models indicates that the observed structures resemble flux tubes of varying plasma content compared to the background density. These findings are in agreement with those of Ansher et al. (1992).

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Natural Sciences

Grantor

Rice University

Year dc:date.issued

1994

Author dc:creator

• Ansher, Jay Alan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hill, Thomas W.

• Plasma physics
• Astronomy
• Astrophysics

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1911/13806

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.rice.edu:1911/13806