Plasma parameters at Europa’s orbit estimated from the Hisaki observation

This post is also available in: Japanese

We focus on the volcanically active Io and the icy moon Europa. Sulfur and oxygen ions generated from Io spread to Europa’s orbit as a doughnut-shaped Io plasma torus. However, time and spatial continuity of plasma parameters at Europa’s orbit has rarely been investigated because of the limited observations. This study aims to estimate the electron density, electron temperature, and ion composition in Io plasma torus from Io’s orbit to Europa’s orbit using Hisaki satellite data. As a result, the sulfur and oxygen ion emission lines were successfully identified at Europa’s orbit. We will work on how the plasma density and ion composition at Europa’s orbit changed in response to Io’s volcanic activity occurred in late January 2015.

This post is also available in: Japanese