Jupiter's Auroral Ionosphere: Juno Microwave Radiometer Observations of Energetic Electron Precipitation Events

Abstract

Jupiter's polar aurora exhibits low brightness temperatures in Juno Microwave Radiometer (MWR) observations when the Juno spacecraft passes over the high-latitude region of the Northern Hemisphere. These cold features are observed predominantly at 0.6 GHz and show both long-term $\sim$ hours and short-term changes over time, that is, spans less than the 30-s spacecraft spin period. The MWR “cold spot” observations are associated with polar ultraviolet emission features that are thought to originate from high energy electron precipitation into the Jovian high latitude atmosphere. The energetic electron precipitation produces strong absorptive characteristics at microwave frequencies due to the transient formation of high-density electron regions in the lower stratosphere. In this paper, we describe progress on the analysis of Juno MWR observations of the northern aurora and simulate the effects of heating and electron impact ionization processes due to high energy particle precipitation events in Jupiter's auroral ionosphere. Electron precipitation intensities at energies up to 10 MeV inferred from the Jupiter Energetic-Particle Detector Instrument (JEDI) and Ultraviolet Spectrograph (UVS) instruments are used as a Northern Hemisphere case study to understand the energy deposition and ionization processes in the lower stratosphere, and subsequently used to estimate the microwave and ultraviolet opacity of the auroral region. The northward progression of Juno's perijove during the mission reduces the overflight altitude and allows important insights into effects produced at different length scales with respect to the auroral oval.