Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Time variation of Jupiter’s internal magnetic field consistent with zonal wind advection

Nature Astronomy volume 3, pages 730–735 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 06 December 2021

This article has been updated

Abstract

Determination of the time dependency (secular variation) of a planet’s magnetic field provides a window into understanding the dynamo responsible for generating its field. However, of the six Solar System planets with active dynamos, secular variation has been firmly established only for Earth. Here, we compare magnetic field observations of Jupiter from the Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and Ulysses spacecraft (acquired 1973–1992) with a new Juno reference model (JRM09)1. We find a consistent, systematic change in Jupiter’s field over this 45-year time span, which cannot be explained by changes in the magnetospheric field or by changing the assumed rotation rate of Jupiter. Through a simplified forward model, we find that the inferred change in the field is consistent with advection of the field by Jupiter’s zonal winds, projected down to 93–95% of Jupiter’s radius (where the electrical conductivity of the hydrogen envelope becomes sufficient to advect the field). This result demonstrates that zonal wind interactions with Jupiter’s magnetic field are important and lends independent support to atmospheric and gravitational-field determinations of the profile of Jupiter’s deep winds.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Inferred change in Jupiter’s internal magnetic field between Juno (2017) and Pioneer 10 (1973), Pioneer 11 (1974), Voyager 1 (1979) and Ulysses (1992).
Fig. 2: Jupiter’s zonal winds and magnetic field.
Fig. 3: Models of Jupiter’s magnetic secular variation.
Fig. 4: ZWA model of Jupiter’s secular variation.

Data availability

All data and models used in this study are publicly available. The Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and Ulysses magnetometer data used in this study are available online on the Planetary Data System. The Jupiter Juno magnetic field model we use is publicly available1. More information regarding the figures and results of this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Change history

References

  1. Connerney, J. E. P. et al. A new model of Jupiter’s magnetic field from Juno’s first nine orbits. Geophys. Res. Lett. 45, 2590–2596 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Connerney, J. E. P. & Acuña, M. H. Jovimagnetic secular variation. Nature 297, 313–315 (1982).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Connerney, J. E. P., Acuña, M. H., Ness, N. F. & Satoh, T. New models of Jupiter’s magnetic field constrained by the Io flux tube footprint. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 11929–11939 (1998).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Yu, Z. J., Leinweber, H. K. & Russell, C. T. Galileo constraints on the secular variation of the Jovian magnetic field. J. Geophys. Res. 115, E03002 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ridley, V. A. & Holme, R. Modeling the Jovian magnetic field and its secular variation using all available magnetic field observations. J. Geophys. Res. Planets 121, 309–337 (2016).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Connerney, J. E. P., Acuña, M. H. & Ness, N. F. Modeling the Jovian current sheet and inner magnetosphere. J. Geophys. Res. 86, 8370–8384 (1981).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Jones, C. A. A dynamo model of Jupiter’s magnetic field. Icarus 241, 148–159 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Dietrich, W. & Jones, C. A. Anelastic spherical dynamos with radially variable electrical conductivity. Icarus 305, 15–32 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Riddle, A. C. & Warwick, J. W. Redefinition of the System III longitude. Icarus 27, 457–459 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Higgins, C. A., Carr, T. D., Reyes, F., Greenman, W. B. & Lebo, G. R. A redefinition of Jupiter’s rotation period. J. Geophys. Res. 102, 22033–22041 (1997).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Russell, C. T., Yu, Z. J. & Kivelson, M. G. The rotation period of Jupiter. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 1911–1912 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Iess, L. et al. Measurement of Jupiter’s asymmetric gravity field. Nature 555, 220–222 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Porco, C. C. et al. Cassini imaging of Jupiter’s atmosphere, satellites, and rings. Science 299, 1541–1547 (2003).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Guillot, T. et al. A suppression of differential rotation in Jupiter’s deep interior. Nature 555, 227–230 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Kaspi, Y. et al. Jupiter’s atmospheric jet streams extend thousands of kilometres deep. Nature 555, 223–226 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Nellis, W. J., Mitchell, A. C., McCandless, P. C., Ersine, D. J. & Weir, S. T. Electronic energy gap of molecular hydrogen from electrical conductivity measurements at high shock pressures. Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 2937–2940 (1992).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Weir, S. T., Mitchell, A. C. & Nellis, W. J. Metallization of fluid molecular hydrogen at 140 GPa (1.4 Mbar). Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 1860–1863 (1996).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. French, M. et al. Ab initio simulations for material properties along the Jupiter adiabat. Astrophys. J. Suppl. 202, 5 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Celliers, P. M. et al. Insulator–metal transition in dense deuterium. Science 361, 677–682 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Cao, H. & Stevenson, D. J. Zonal flow magnetic field interaction in the semi-conducting region of giant planets. Icarus 296, 59–72 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Liu, J., Goldreich, P. M. & Stevenson, D. J. Constraints on deep-seated zonal winds inside Jupiter and Saturn. Icarus 196, 653–664 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Moore, K. M., Bloxham, J., Connerney, J. E. P., Jorgensen, J. L. & Merayo, J. M. The analysis of initial Juno magnetometer data using a sparse magnetic field representation. Geophys. Res. Lett. 44, 4687–4693 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Moore, K. M. et al. A complex Jovian dynamo from the hemispheric dichotomy of Jupiter’s field. Nature 561, 76–78 (2018).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. ConnerneyJ. E. P.., Acuña, M. H. & Ness, N. F. The Z3 model of Saturn’s magnetic field and the Pioneer 11 vector helium magnetometer observations. Geophys. Res. 89, 7541–7544 (1984).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Smith, E. J. et al. The planetary magnetic field and magnetosphere of Jupiter: Pioneer 10. J. Geophys. Res. 79, 3501–3513 (1974).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Ness, N. F. et al. Magnetic field studies at Jupiter by Voyager 1: preliminary results. Science 204, 982–987 (1979).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Behannon, K. W., Acuña, M. H., Burlaga, L. F., Lepping, R. P. & Ness, N. F. Magnetic field experiment for Voyagers 1 and 2. Space Sci. Rev. 21, 235–257 (1997).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Balogh, A. et al. The magnetic field investigation on the Ulysses mission: instrumentation and preliminary scientific results. Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 92, 221–236 (1992).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Edwards, T. M., Bunce, E. J. & Cowley, S. W. H. A note on the vector potential of Connerney et al.’s model of the equatorial current sheet in Jupiter’s magnetosphere. Planet. Space Sci. 49, 1115–1123 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. Starchenko, S. V. & Jones, C. A. Typical velocities and magnetic field strengths in planetary interiors. Icarus 157, 426–435 (2002).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. Kong, D., Zhang, K., Schubert, G. & Anderson, J. D. Origin of Jupiter’s cloud-level zonal winds remains a puzzle even after Juno. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 115, 8499–8504 (2018).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

All authors acknowledge support from the NASA Juno Mission. K.M.M. is supported by the Department of Defense (DoD) through the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG) programme, and the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Merit Fellowship. We thank Richard Holme for helpful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    K. M. Moore, H. Cao & J. Bloxham

  2. Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    H. Cao & D. J. Stevenson

  3. Space Research Corporation, Annapolis, MD, USA

    J. E. P. Connerney

  4. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    J. E. P. Connerney

  5. Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX, USA

    S. J. Bolton

Authors
  1. K. M. Moore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. H. Cao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. J. Bloxham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. D. J. Stevenson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. J. E. P. Connerney
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. S. J. Bolton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

K.M.M, H.C. and J.B. designed the study and wrote the manuscript. K.M.M. performed the data analysis, while H.C. performed the zonal wind calculations. All authors contributed to discussions, as well as editing and revising the manuscript. J.E.P.C. is the principal investigator of the Juno magnetometer investigation, and S.J.B. is the principal investigator of the Juno Mission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to K. M. Moore.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Journal peer review information: Nature Astronomy thanks Richard Holme and Chris Jones for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–6, Supplementary Tables 1 and 2, captions of Supplementary Datasets 1–3, Supplementary references

Supplementary Dataset 1

Harmonic coefficients for the ZWA model using winds projected at 0.95 RJ

Supplementary Dataset 2

Harmonic coefficients for the ZWA model using winds projected at 0.94 RJ

Supplementary Dataset 3

Harmonic coefficients for the ZWA model using winds projected at 0.93 RJ

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Moore, K.M., Cao, H., Bloxham, J. et al. Time variation of Jupiter’s internal magnetic field consistent with zonal wind advection. Nat Astron 3, 730–735 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0772-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0772-5

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing