资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

We have discovered pulsating emission within Jupiter's main auroral oval, providing evidence of the auroral signature of Jovian ULF wave processes. The form comprises a 1 degrees x 2 degrees spot located directly on the main emission, whose intensity oscillates with a period of similar to 10 min throughout the 45 min observation. The feature appears on the duskward edge of the discontinuity, maps to similar to 13-14 h LT and similar to 20-50 R-J, and rotates at around a half of rigid corotation. We show that the period of the oscillation is similar to the expected Alfven travel time between the ionosphere and the upper edge of the equatorial plasma sheet in the middle magnetosphere, and we thus suggest that the pulsating aurora is driven by a mode confined to the low-density region outside the plasma sheet. This significant new observation shows that Jupiter's auroras present an important remote sensing window on Jovian magnetospheric wave processes.