Numerical simulations on origin of Galilean moons’ magnetic anomalies
- LiGuo Jiao,
- WeiJia Kuang,
- ShiZhuang Ma
- … show all 3 hide
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Galileo mission detected the magnetic anomalies originated from Galilean moons. These anomalies are likely generated in the moons’ interiors, under the influence of a strong ambient Jovian field. Among various possible generation mechanisms of the anomalies, we focus on magneto-convection and dynamos in the interiors via numerical simulation. To mimic the electromagnetic environment of the moons, we introduce in our numerical model an external uniform magnetic field B 0 with a fixed orientation but varying field strength. Our results show that a finite B 0 can substantially alter the dynamo processes inside the core. When the ambient field strength B 0 increases to approximately 40% of the field generated by the pure dynamo action, the convective state in the core changes significantly: the convective flow decreases by 80% in magnitude, but the differential rotation becomes stronger in much of the fluid layer, leading to a stronger field generated in the core. The field morphologies inside the core tend to align with the ambient field, while the flow patterns show the symmetry-breaking effect under the influence of B 0. Furthermore, the generated field tends to be temporally more stable.
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- Title
- Numerical simulations on origin of Galilean moons’ magnetic anomalies
- Journal
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Science China Earth Sciences
Volume 54, Issue 11 , pp 1754-1760
- Cover Date
- 2011-11-01
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11430-011-4276-0
- Print ISSN
- 1674-7313
- Online ISSN
- 1869-1897
- Publisher
- SP Science China Press
- Additional Links
- Topics
- Keywords
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- Galilean moons
- magnetic fields
- magneto-convection
- dynamo
- Industry Sectors
- Authors
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LiGuo Jiao
(1)
- WeiJia Kuang (2)
- ShiZhuang Ma (1)
-
LiGuo Jiao
- Author Affiliations
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- 1. Laboratory of Computational Geodynamics, College of Earth Sciences, Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
- 2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA