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Abstract Juno conducted two close Io flybys on 30 December 2023 and 03 February 2024, both at a minimum altitude of 1,500 km. Filamentary structures in the electric and magnetic field spectra indicate Juno crossed the Alfvén wing, the magnetic structure connecting Io to Jupiter's polar ionosphere. We show that the first pass took Juno diametrically through the northern Alfvén wing, while the second pass had Juno graze the southern Alfvén wing boundary, enabling extended measurements of the transition region between Io's vicinity and the Jovian magnetosphere. Of note, evidence of local electron beams is inferred from whistler‐mode emissions. We demonstrate that their energies are sub‐keV, are sourced from Io's ionosphere or local torus, and are part of a distributed current system connecting Io to Jupiter. Finally, upper hybrid resonances indicate electron densities are significantly elevated in Io's polar region (∼28,000 cm−3) compared to the local Io torus (∼2,000 cm−3).

Abstract Juno passed by Europa at an altitude of 355 km on 29 September, day 272, 2022. As one of Juno's in situ science instruments, the Waves instrument obtained observations of plasma waves that are essential contributors to Europa's interaction with its environment. Juno observed chorus, a band at the upper hybrid frequency providing the local plasma density, and electrostatic solitary structures in the wake. In addition, impulses due to micron‐sized dust impacts on Juno were recorded with a local maximum very close to Europa. The peak electron density near Europa was ∼330 cm−3 while the surrounding magnetospheric density was in the range of 50–150 cm−3. There was a significant separation between the Europa flyby and Juno's crossing of Jupiter's magnetic equator, enabling a unique identification of effects associated with the moon as opposed to magnetospheric phenomena normally occurring at the magnetic equator near 10 Jovian radii.

Abstract Interchange instability is known to drive fast radial transport of particles in Jupiter's inner magnetosphere. Magnetic flux tubes associated with the interchange instability often coincide with changes in particle distributions and plasma waves, but further investigations are required to understand their detailed characteristics. We analyze representative interchange events observed by Juno, which exhibit intriguing features of particle distributions and plasma waves, including Z‐mode and whistler‐mode waves. These events occurred at an equatorial radial distance of ∼9 Jovian radii on the nightside, with Z‐mode waves observed at mid‐latitude and whistler‐mode waves near the equator. We calculate the linear growth rate of whistler‐mode and Z‐mode waves based on the observed plasma parameters and electron distributions and find that both waves can be locally generated within the interchanged flux tube. Our findings are important for understanding particle transport and generation of plasma waves in the magnetospheres of Jupiter and other planetary systems.

Electron cyclotron harmonic (ECH) waves along with whistler mode waves are suggested to be responsible for causing the persistent diffuse aurora in Jupiter. In this work, for the first time we systematically analyze the ECH waves in the Jovian inner magnetosphere, which was surveyed by Juno during the later orbits (>25). We find that in the Jovian inner magnetosphere, ECH waves occur in two specific regions—one equatorial and the other off-equatorial, just outside the Io torus. Equatorial ECH waves have higher intensity compared to their off-equatorial counterpart. We also notice an overlap between the region of mid-latitude hot injections and the region of off-equatorial ECH wave occurrence. Finally, we show an event to describe the complex nature of ECH wave growth/damping varying with particle density structures of the injection region at mid-latitude.

Radial diffusion is the only mechanism considered to accelerate trapped electrons to relativistic energies in Saturn’s magnetic field, forming radiation belts. Here the authors show another mechanism, electron acceleration via Doppler shifted cyclotron resonant interaction with Z-mode waves, which can form radiation belts inside the orbit of Enceladus.

Observations of Jupiter’s magnetosphere provide opportunities to understand how magnetic fields interact with particles. Here, the authors report that the chorus wave power is increased in the vicinity of Europa and Ganymede. The generated waves are able to accelerate particles to very high energy.

The periodicity of Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR) varies with time, and its two periods during the first 5 years of the Cassini mission have been attributed to SKR from the northern and southern hemisphere. After Saturn equinox in August 2009, there were long intervals of time (March 2010 to February 2011 and September 2011 to June 2012) with similar northern and southern SKR periods and locked SKR phases. However, from March to August 2011 the SKR periods were split up again, and the phases were unlocked. In this time interval, the southern SKR period slowed down by ~ 0.5% on average, and there was a large jump back to a faster period in August 2011. The northern SKR period speeded up and coalesced again with the southern period in September 2011. We argue that this unusual behavior could be related to the so-called Great White Spot (GWS), a giant thunderstorm that raged in Saturn's atmosphere around that time. For several months in 2011, the visible head of the GWS had the same period of ~ 10.69 h as the main southern SKR modulation signal. The GWS was most likely a source of intense gravity waves that may have caused a global change in Saturn's thermospheric winds via energy and momentum deposition. This would support the theory that Saturn's magnetospheric periodicities are driven by the upper atmosphere. Since the GWS with simultaneous SKR periodicity measurements have only been made once, it is difficult to prove a physical connection between these two phenomena, but we provide plausible mechanisms by which the GWS might modify the SKR periods.

Jupiter has the most intense radiation belts of all the outer planets. It is not yet known how electrons can be accelerated to energies of 10 MeV or more. It has been suggested that cyclotron-resonant wave-particle interactions by chorus waves could accelerate electrons to a few MeV near the orbit of Io. Here we use the chorus wave intensities observed by the Galileo spacecraft to calculate the changes in electron flux as a result of pitch angle and energy diffusion. We show that, when the bandwidth of the waves and its variation with L are taken into account, pitch angle and energy diffusion due to chorus waves is a factor of 8 larger at L-shells greater than 10 than previously shown. We have used the latitudinal wave intensity profile from Galileo data to model the time evolution of the electron flux using the British Antarctic Survey Radiation Belt (BAS) model. This profile confines intense chorus waves near the magnetic equator with a peak intensity at ∼5° latitude. Electron fluxes in the BAS model increase by an order of magnitude for energies around 3 MeV. Extending our results to L = 14 shows that cyclotron-resonant interactions with chorus waves are equally important for electron acceleration beyond L = 10. These results suggest that there is significant electron acceleration by cyclotron-resonant interactions at Jupiter contributing to the creation of Jupiter's radiation belts and also increasing the range of L-shells over which this mechanism should be considered.

Narrowband emission (NB) is observed at Saturn centered near 5 kHz and 20 kHz and harmonics. This emission appears similar in many ways to Jovian kilometric narrowband emission observed at higher frequencies, and therefore may have a similar source mechanism. Source regions of NB near 20 kHz are believed to be located near density gradients in the inner magnetosphere and the emission appears to be correlated with the occurrence of large neutral plasma clouds observed in the Saturn magnetotail. In this work we present the results of a growth rate analysis of NB emission (~20 kHz) near or within a probable source region. This is made possible by the sampling of in-situ wave and particle data. The results indicate waves are likely to be generated by the mode-conversion of directly generated Z-mode emission to O-mode near a density gradient. When the local hybrid frequency is close n fce (n is an integer and fce is the electron cyclotron frequency) with n=4, 5 or 6 in our case, electromagnetic Z-mode and weak ordinary (O-mode) emission can be directly generated by the cyclotron maser instability.

Previous studies have shown that the occurrence probability of Saturn Kilometric Radiation (SKR) appears to be influenced by the local time of Titan. Using a more extensive set of data than the original study, we confirm the correlation of higher occurrence probability of SKR when Titan is located near local midnight. In addition, the direction finding capability of the Cassini Radio Plasma Wave instrument (RPWS) is used to determine if this radio emission emanates from particular source regions. We find that most source regions of SKR are located in the mid-morning sector of local time even when Titan is located near midnight. However, some emission does appear to have a source in the Saturnian nightside, consistent with electron precipitation from field lines that have recently mapped to near Titan.

This study describes the onset process of auroral substorms in connection with the vertical evolution of auroral particle acceleration, on the basis of auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) dynamics. We show that the auroral acceleration process at substorm onset basically consists of two stages: (1) appearance/intensification of a low-altitude acceleration region at 4000–5000 km accompanied by initial brightening and (2) breakout of high-altitude field-aligned acceleration above the pre-existing low-altitude acceleration region at 6000–12 000 km, which is followed by auroral breakup and poleward expansion. It is also revealed that this two-stage evolution of auroral acceleration corresponds to the two-step reinforcement of field-aligned current.

Plasma waves observed in the Saturn magnetosphere provide an indication of the plasma population present in the rotationally dominated inner magnetosphere. Electrostatic cyclotron emissions often with harmonics and whistler mode emission are a common feature of Saturn's inner magnetosphere. The electron observations for a region near 5 RS outside and near a plasma injection region indicate a cooler low-energy (E>1000 eV) more pancake or butterfly distribution. We model the electron plasma distributions to conduct a linear dispersion analysis of the wave modes. The results suggest that the electrostatic electron cyclotron emissions can be generated by phase space density gradients associated with a loss cone that may be up to 20° wide. This loss cone is sometimes, but not always, observed because the field of view of the electron detectors does not include the magnetic field line at the time of the observations. The whistler mode emission can be generated by the pancake-like distribution and temperature anisotropy (T⊥/T||>1) of the warmer plasma population.

A survey of plasma wave observations at Jupiter obtained by the plasma wave instrument on board the Galileo spacecraft is presented. The observations indicate that chorus emissions are observed commonly in the Jovian magnetosphere near the magnetic equator in the approximate radial range 6

We investigate particle and fields data during a conjunction of the Polar and Cluster spacecraft. This conjunction occurs near the dayside cusp boundary layer when a dayside inverted-V was observed in the particle data of both satellites. Electron, ion, electric field, and magnetic field data from each satellite confirm that the dayside inverted-V (DSIV) structure is present at the location of both satellites and the electric fields persist from the altitude of the Polar (lower) spacecraft to the altitude of the Cluster spacecraft. We observe accelerated, precipitating electrons and upward ions along the magnetic field. In addition, large amplitude electric fields perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field seen by Polar and by Cluster suggest significant parallel electric fields associated with these events. For similar DSIV events observed by the Polar spacecraft, plasma waves (identified as possible Alfvén waves) have been observed to propagate in both directions along the magnetic field line. Future conjunctions will be necessary to confirm that DSIVs are associated with reconnection sites.

Velocity dispersed ion signatures (VDIS) occurring at the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) are a well reported feature. Theory has, however, predicted the existence of multiple ion beamlets, similar to VDIS, in the boundary plasma sheet (BPS), i.e. at latitudes below the PSBL. In this study we show evidence for the multiple ion beamlets in Polar/TIMAS ion data and basic properties of the ion beamlets will be presented. Statistics of the occurrence frequency of ion multiple beamlets show that they are most common in the midnight MLT sector and for altitudes above 4 RE, while at low altitude (≤3 RE), single beamlets at PSBL (VDIS) are more common. Distribution functions of ion beamlets in velocity space have recently been shown to correspond to 3-dimensional hollow spheres, containing a large amount of free energy. We also study correlation with ~100 Hz waves and electron anisotropies and consider the possibility that ion beamlets correspond to stable auroral arcs.

It has lately been shown that low-frequency bursts of auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) are nearly exclusively associated with substorm expansion phases. Here we study low-frequency AKR using Polar PWI and Interball POLRAD instruments to constrain its possible generation mechanisms. We find that there are more low-frequency AKR emission events during wintertime and equinoxes than during summertime. The dot-AKR emission radial distance range coincides well with the region where the deepest density cavities are seen statistically during Kp>2. We suggest that the dot-AKR emissions originate in the deepest density cavities during substorm onsets. The mechanism for generating dot-AKR is possibly strong Alfvén waves entering the cavity from the magnetosphere and changing their character to more inertial, which causes the Alfvén wave associated parallel electric field to increase. This field may locally accelerate electrons inside the cavity enough to produce low-frequency AKR emission. We use Interball IESP low-frequency wave data to verify that in about half of the cases the dot-AKR is accompanied by low-frequency wave activity containing a magnetic component, i.e. probably inertial Alfvén waves. Because of the observational geometry, this result is consistent with the idea that inertial Alfvén waves might always be present in the source region when dot-AKR is generated. The paper illustrates once more the importance of radio emissions as a powerful remote diagnostic tool of auroral processes, which is not only relevant for the Earth's magnetosphere but may be relevant in the future in studying extrasolar planets.

Bipolar pulses of ~ 25-100 µs in duration have been observed in the wave electric field data obtained by the Wideband plasma wave instrument on the Cluster spacecraft in the dayside magnetosheath. These pulses are similar in almost all respects to those observed on several spacecraft over the last few years. They represent solitary potential structures, and in this case, electron phase space holes. When the time series data containing the bipolar pulses on Cluster are transformed to the frequency domain by a windowed FFT, the pulses appear as typical broad-band features, extending from the low-frequency cutoff of the bandpass filter, ~ 1 kHz, up to as great as 20-40 kHz in some cases, with decreasing intensity as the frequency increases. The upper frequency cutoff of the broad band is an indication of the individual pulse durations (1/f). The solitary potential structures are detected when the local magnetic field is contained primarily in the spin plane, indicating that they propagate along the magnetic field. Their frequency extent and intensity seem to increase as the angle between the directions of the magnetic field and the plasma flow decreases from 90°. Of major significance is the finding that the overall profile of the broad-band features observed simultaneously by two Cluster spacecraft, separated by a distance of over 750 km, are strikingly similar in terms of onset times, frequency extent, intensity, and termination. This implies that the generation region of the solitary potential structures observed in the magnetosheath near the bow shock is very large and may be located at or near the bow shock, or be connected with the bow shock in some way.

The orbit of the Polar spacecraft has been ideally suited for studying the turbulent region of the cusp that is located near or just outside the magnetopause current sheet at 7-9 RE. The wave data obtained in this region show that electromagnetic turbulence is dominant in the frequency range 1-10 Hz. The waves responsible for this turbulence usually propagate perpendicular to the local magnetic field and have an index of refraction that generally falls between the estimated cold plasma theoretical values of the electromagnetic lower hybrid and whistler modes and may be composed of both modes in concert with kinetic Alfvén waves and/or fast magnetosonic waves. Fourier spectra of the higher frequency wave data also show the electromagnetic turbulence at frequencies up to and near the electron cyclotron frequency. This higher frequency electromagnetic turbulence is most likely associated with whistler mode waves. The lower hybrid drift and current gradient instabilities are suggested as possible mechanisms for producing the turbulence. The plasma and field environment of this turbulent region is examined and found to be extremely complex. Some of the wave activity is associated with processes occurring locally, such as changes in the DC magnetic field, while others are associated with solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field changes.