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The Magnetodiscs and Aurorae of Giant Planets

  • Provides a unique synthesis and comprehensive overview of the giant magnetospheres and their aurorae
  • Presents an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the coupled system from the solar wind to the atmosphere
  • Combines the latest observations with current theory and models
  • Contains sufficient breadth for students of magnetospheric and space physics to use as a reference for future research

Part of the book series: Space Sciences Series of ISSI (SSSI, volume 50)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-V
  2. Giant Planet Magnetodiscs and Aurorae—An Introduction

    • Karoly Szego, Nicholas Achilleos, Chris Arridge, Sarah V. Badman, Peter Delamere, Denis Grodent et al.
    Pages 1-3
  3. Planetary Magnetodiscs: Some Unanswered Questions

    • Margaret Galland Kivelson
    Pages 5-21
  4. Solar Wind and Internally Driven Dynamics: Influences on Magnetodiscs and Auroral Responses

    • P. A. Delamere, F. Bagenal, C. Paranicas, A. Masters, A. Radioti, B. Bonfond et al.
    Pages 51-97
  5. Auroral Processes at the Giant Planets: Energy Deposition, Emission Mechanisms, Morphology and Spectra

    • Sarah V. Badman, Graziella Branduardi-Raymont, Marina Galand, Sébastien L. G. Hess, Norbert Krupp, Laurent Lamy et al.
    Pages 99-179
  6. Magnetic Reconnection and Associated Transient Phenomena Within the Magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn

    • Philippe Louarn, Nicolas Andre, Caitriona M. Jackman, Satoshi Kasahara, Elena A. Kronberg, Marissa F. Vogt
    Pages 181-227
  7. Transport of Mass, Momentum and Energy in Planetary Magnetodisc Regions

    • Nicholas Achilleos, Nicolas André, Xochitl Blanco-Cano, Pontus C. Brandt, Peter A. Delamere, Robert Winglee
    Pages 229-299
  8. Sources of Local Time Asymmetries in Magnetodiscs

    • C. S. Arridge, M. Kane, N. Sergis, K. K. Khurana, C. M. Jackman
    Pages 301-333

About this book

Readers will find grouped together here the most recent observations, current theoretical models and present understanding of the coupled atmosphere, magnetosphere and solar wind system. The book begins with a general discussion of mass, energy and momentum transport in magnetodiscs. The physics of partially ionized plasmas of the giant planet magnetodiscs is of general interest throughout the field of space physics, heliophysics and astrophysical plasmas; therefore, understanding the basic physical processes associated with magnetodiscs has universal applications. The second chapter characterizes the solar wind interaction and auroral responses to solar wind driven dynamics. The third chapter describes the role of magnetic reconnection and the effects on plasma transport. Finally, the last chapter characterizes the spectral and spatial properties of auroral emissions, distinguishing between solar wind drivers and internal driving mechanisms. The in-depth reviews provide an excellent reference for future research in this discipline.


Editors and Affiliations

  • and Nuclear Physics, KFKI Research Institute for Particle, Budapest, Hungary

    Karoly Szego

  • University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Nicholas Achilleos

  • Department of Physics, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, United Kingdom

    Chris Arridge, Sarah Badman

  • Geophysical Inst, Univ of Alaska, FAIRBANKS, USA

    Peter Delamere

  • Universite de Liege, Liege, Belgium

    Denis Grodent

  • University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA

    Margaret Galland Kivelson

  • IRAP, Toulouse, France

    Philippe Louarn

About the editors

Prof. Karoly Szego is Professor Emeritus at the Wigner Research Centre for Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He has published over 140 scientific papers in the field of Solar System exploration. He was involved in several space missions; most recently as Co-Invegistator (CoI) in the CAPS experiment of the CASSINI mission; CoI in the ROSETTA orbiter Plasma Consortium; CoI in the Aspera team, Venus Express mission; CoI in the Serena team, BepiColombo mission; and CoI in the PEP experiment, JUICE mission. He has served on various national and international scientific bodies and is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics.

Dr. Nicholas Achilleos started his research career working in stellar astrophysics, in particular the magnetic field structures of white dwarf stars and their effects on radiative transfer, as well as the structure of the ‘halo’ region found in some accreting systems with magnetic white dwarfs. He then moved into planetary work, moving to UCL and working on a global, time-dependent circulation model of the Jovian thermosphere. A paper published using this model in 2001 was later awarded a ‘10th Anniversary Research Highlight’ of the New Journal of Physics. He then worked in industry as a software engineer for a short time before becoming a mission planner / support scientist for the Cassini magnetometer team in 2002. This allowed him to contribute to research which made use of the Cassini magnetic and other datasets. After moving to UCL to take up a lectureship in 2007, he worked with two UCL colleagues to produce a magnetodisc model of Saturn, adapted from Caudal’s original Jovian model, and the first two papers based on this model were published in 2010. This experience with magnetometer data and modelling of magnetodisc structure makes him a suitable editor for this particular volume. 
Dr. Chris Arridge is a Royal Society Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of Physics at Lancaster University. He obtained a PhD from Imperial College London on the analysis and modelling of Cassini data from Saturn. From 2006 to 2012 he held a series of postdoctoral positions and fellowships at University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory. His research focuses on the structureand dynamics of planetary magnetospheres and he is involved in the MAG and CAPS teams for the Cassini mission to Saturn, and the J-MAG and PEP teams for the JUICE mission to Jupiter.

Dr. Sarah Badman studies solar-planetary interactions and has held research fellowships in Japan and the United Kingdom. She is a team member on the Cassini mission to Saturn and has been an investigator on several ground- and space-based auroral observing campaigns targeting Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus.

Dr. Peter Delamere is an Associate Professor of Space Physics at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.  His research focuses on comparative magnetospheric physics with anemphasis on the numerical simulation of space plasmas using hybrid (kinetic ion, fluid electron) and multi-fluid techniques. Dr. Delamere has studied the solar wind interaction with the giant magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, comets, Pluto and the plasma interaction at Io.  In addition, he has developed models to study the flow of mass and energy through the inner magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn to study the internally-driven dynamics of these systems.

Prof. Denis Grodent is a planetary scientist who specialized in the study of upper atmospheres and magnetospheres of the giant planets. He is head of the Laboratory for Planetary and Atmospheric Physics at the University of Liège. Prof. Grodent developed a 20-year expertise in obtaining, analyzing, interpreting and modeling atmospheric emissions of the giant planets. These observations were obtained through routine use of the Hubble Space Telescope UV cameras for high-resolution spectroscopy and high-resolution imaging. He developed models of the auroral thermal structures of Jupiter and Saturn with Monte-Carlo and two-stream codes and H2 and H3+ UV and IR spectral generators. D. Grodent has published over 90 scientific papers in refereed international journals (ADS h-index=28) as a first or co-author and contributed to more than 200 presentations in international congresses and meetings. He was involved as a PI or a Co-I in 23 observing programs with the Hubble Space telescope and oneobserving program with the Chandra X-ray Space Telescope. He is a Science Team Member of the NASA/Juno mission through his implication in the UVS camera. Prof. Grodent is a co-investigator of the PEP (Particle Environment Package), UVS (Ultraviolet Spectrograph) and MAJIS (Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer) instruments onboard the ESA/JUICE mission. He is also Associate Scientist of the UVIS (Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph) onboard the NASA-ESA/Cassini mission and Team Member of the Cassini/MAPS (Magnetospheric And Plasma Science) working group. Prof. Denis Grodent is teaching several courses on Earth and planetary atmospheres and magnetospheres in the Master in Space Sciences of the Université de Liège.

Prof. Margaret Kivelson is a Distinguished Professor of Space Physics, Emeritus, at UCLA and a Research Professor at the University of Michigan. She is a member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences and recipient of the Fleming medal of the American Geophysical Union and of the Alfven medal of the European Geophysical Union. She has published more than 360 papers on space physics.

Dr. Philippe Louarn is a senior scientist at the Centre National de la  Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, France), working at  the Institut de Recherche et Astrophysique and Planétologie (IRAP, Toulouse). His  expertizes cover data analysis, theory and simulations of space plasma  processes with a particular interest for the interpretation of waves  and particles observations. Most of his works are related to the analysis of phenomena that develop in the ionized environments of solar system objects. This includes studies on the radio wave  generation, particle acceleration and plasma heating processes. He also studied the large-scale magnetospheric activity of giant planets  (Jupiter, Saturn) and works on problems related to the stability of  magnetic structures.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Magnetodiscs and Aurorae of Giant Planets

  • Editors: Karoly Szego, Nicholas Achilleos, Chris Arridge, Sarah Badman, Peter Delamere, Denis Grodent, Margaret Galland Kivelson, Philippe Louarn

  • Series Title: Space Sciences Series of ISSI

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3395-2

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4939-3394-5Published: 16 October 2015

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4939-5012-6Published: 23 August 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4939-3395-2Published: 14 October 2015

  • Series ISSN: 1385-7525

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: V, 333

  • Additional Information: Originally published as Vol. 187 in the Series Space Science Reviews

  • Topics: Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics), Planetology

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access