Thermospheric General Circulation Models for the Giant Planets: The Jupiter Case

The upper atmosphere of Jupiter is an extremely complex region in which a unique combination of neutral and ionized gases interact chemically and dynamically. Initial attempts at modeling an "average" Jovian ionosphere as a one dimensional profile have proven successful, though inevitably such models cannot reproduce the more detailed structure. For a more complete analysis it is necessary to use a fully time-dependent global coupled ionosphere-thermosphere model. The Jovian Ionospheric Model (JIM) is the first such model to be developed and is described here. Results are shown detailing both the effects due to solar ionization, and importantly, a strong coupling with Jupiter's magnetosphere which leads to both electron precipitation and strong electric fields within the auroral region.