Dynamo Action of Jupiter's Zonal Winds

TL;DR

This study uses Juno spacecraft data to analyze Jupiter's internal magnetic and flow dynamics, estimating the depth of zonal winds and their magnetic effects, with implications for understanding planetary magnetic field generation.

Contribution

It combines new gravity and magnetic data with conductivity profiles to model the dynamo action induced by zonal winds in Jupiter's outer molecular hydrogen region.

Findings

Zonal winds likely extend down to about 0.96 Jupiter radii.

Induced magnetic fields are estimated to be detectable by Juno.

Ohmic heating and entropy production are below previous predictions.

Abstract

The new data delivered by NASA's Juno spacecraft significantly increase our understanding of Jupiter's internal dynamics. The gravity data constrain the depth of the zonal flows observed at cloud level and suggest that they slow down considerably at a depth of about $0.96\,r_J$, where $r_J$ is the mean radius at the one bar level. Juno's magnetometer reveals the planet's internal magnetic field. We combine the new zonal flow and magnetic field models with an updated electrical conductivity profile to assess the zonal wind induced dynamo action, concentrating on the outer part of Jupiter's molecular hydrogen region where the conductivity increases very rapidly with depth. Dynamo action remains quasi-stationary and can thus reasonably be estimated where the magnetic Reynolds number remains smaller than one, which is roughly the region above $0.96\,r_J$. We calculate that the locally induced radial magnetic field reaches rms values of about $10^{-6}\,$T in this region and may just be detectable by the Juno mission. Very localized dynamo action and a distinct pattern that reflects the zonal wind system increases the chance to disentangle this locally induced field from the background field. The estimates of the locally induced currents also allow calculating the zonal flow related Ohmic heating and associated entropy production. The respective quantities remain below new revised predictions for the total dissipative heating and total entropy production in Jupiter for any of the explored model combinations. Thus neither Ohmic heating nor entropy production offer additional constraints on the depth of the zonal winds.