IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-38351-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lightning at Jupiter pulsates with a similar rhythm as in-cloud lightning at Earth

Author

Listed:
  • Ivana Kolmašová

    (Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
    Charles University)

  • Ondřej Santolík

    (Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
    Charles University)

  • Masafumi Imai

    (National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), Niihama College)

  • William S. Kurth

    (University of Iowa)

  • George B. Hospodarsky

    (University of Iowa)

  • John E. P. Connerney

    (NASA/Goddard Spaceflight Center)

  • Scott J. Bolton

    (Space Science Department, Southwest Research Institute)

  • Radek Lán

    (Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Our knowledge about the fine structure of lightning processes at Jupiter was substantially limited by the time resolution of previous measurements. Recent observations of the Juno mission revealed electromagnetic signals of Jovian rapid whistlers at a cadence of a few lightning discharges per second, comparable to observations of return strokes at Earth. The duration of these discharges was below a few milliseconds and below one millisecond in the case of Jovian dispersed pulses, which were also discovered by Juno. However, it was still uncertain if Jovian lightning processes have the fine structure of steps corresponding to phenomena known from thunderstorms at Earth. Here we show results collected by the Juno Waves instrument during 5 years of measurements at 125-microsecond resolution. We identify radio pulses with typical time separations of one millisecond, which suggest step-like extensions of lightning channels and indicate that Jovian lightning initiation processes are similar to the initiation of intracloud lightning at Earth.

Suggested Citation

  • Ivana Kolmašová & Ondřej Santolík & Masafumi Imai & William S. Kurth & George B. Hospodarsky & John E. P. Connerney & Scott J. Bolton & Radek Lán, 2023. "Lightning at Jupiter pulsates with a similar rhythm as in-cloud lightning at Earth," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-38351-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38351-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38351-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-38351-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heidi N. Becker & James W. Alexander & Sushil K. Atreya & Scott J. Bolton & Martin J. Brennan & Shannon T. Brown & Alexandre Guillaume & Tristan Guillot & Andrew P. Ingersoll & Steven M. Levin & Jonat, 2020. "Small lightning flashes from shallow electrical storms on Jupiter," Nature, Nature, vol. 584(7819), pages 55-58, August.
    2. Masafumi Imai & Ivana Kolmašová & William S. Kurth & Ondřej Santolík & George B. Hospodarsky & Donald A. Gurnett & Shannon T. Brown & Scott J. Bolton & John E. P. Connerney & Steven M. Levin, 2019. "Evidence for low density holes in Jupiter’s ionosphere," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-6, December.
    3. Shannon Brown & Michael Janssen & Virgil Adumitroaie & Sushil Atreya & Scott Bolton & Samuel Gulkis & Andrew Ingersoll & Steven Levin & Cheng Li & Liming Li & Jonathan Lunine & Sidharth Misra & Glenn , 2018. "Prevalent lightning sferics at 600 megahertz near Jupiter’s poles," Nature, Nature, vol. 558(7708), pages 87-90, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-38351-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.