Io's plasma environment during the Galileo flyby: Global three‐dimensional MHD modeling with adaptive mesh refinement

Abstract

The first results for applying a three‐dimensional multiscale ideal MHD model for the mass‐loaded flow of Jupiter's corotating magnetospheric plasma past Io are presented. The model is able to consider simultaneously physically realistic conditions for ion mass loading, ion‐neutral drag, and intrinsic magnetic field in a full global calculation without imposing artificial dissipation. Io is modeled with an extended neutral atmosphere which loads the corotating plasma torus flow with mass, momentum, and energy. The governing equations are solved using adaptive mesh refinement on an unstructured Cartesian grid using an upwind scheme for MHD. For the work described in this paper we explored a range of models without an intrinsic magnetic field for Io. We compare our results with particle and field measurements made during the December 7, 1995, flyby of Io, as published by the Galileo Orbiter experiment teams. For two extreme cases of lower boundary conditions at Io, our model can quantitatively explain the variation of density along the spacecraft trajectory and can reproduce the general appearance of the variations of magnetic field and ion pressure and temperature. The net fresh ion mass‐loading rates are in the range of ∼300–650 kg s −1 , and equivalent charge exchange mass‐loading rates are in the range ∼540–1150 kg s −1 in the vicinity of Io.