We use the fully coupled, three-dimensional, global circulation Jovian Ionospheric Model (JIM) to calculate the coupling between ions in the jovian auroral ovals and the co-existing neutral atmosphere. The model shows that ions subject to drift motion around the auroral oval, as a result of the E × B coupling between a meridional, equatorward electric field and the jovian magnetic field, generate neutral winds in the planetary frame of reference. Unconstrained by the magnetic field, these neutral winds have a greater latitudinal extent than the corresponding ion drifts. Values of the coupling coefficient, k(h), are presented as a function of altitude and cross-auroral electric field strength, for different incoming electron fluxes and energies. The results show that, with ion velocities of several hundred metres per second to over 1 km s-1, k(h) can attain values greater than 0.5 at the ion production peak. This parameter is key to calculating the effective conductivities required to model magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling correctly. The extent to which angular momentum (and therefore energy) is transported vertically in JIM is much more limited than earlier, one-dimensional, studies have predicted. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
CITATION STYLE
Millward, G., Miller, S., Stallard, T., Achilleos, N., & Aylward, A. D. (2005). On the dynamics of the jovian ionosphere and thermosphere. IV. Ion-neutral coupling. Icarus, 173(1), 200–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2004.07.027
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