Prevalent lightning sferics at 600 megahertz near Jupiter’s poles

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 Orton, Paul Steffes, Fachreddin Tabataba-Vakili, Ivana Kolmašová, Masafumi Imai, Ondřej Santolík, William Kurth, George Hospodarsky, Donald Gurnett and John Connerney
Additional contact information
Shannon Brown: California Institute of Technology
Michael Janssen: California Institute of Technology
Virgil Adumitroaie: California Institute of Technology
Sushil Atreya: Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan
Scott Bolton: Southwest Research Institute
Samuel Gulkis: California Institute of Technology
Andrew Ingersoll: California Institute of Technology
Steven Levin: California Institute of Technology
Cheng Li: California Institute of Technology
Liming Li: University of Houston
Jonathan Lunine: Cornell University
Sidharth Misra: California Institute of Technology
Glenn Orton: California Institute of Technology
Paul Steffes: School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Fachreddin Tabataba-Vakili: California Institute of Technology
Ivana Kolmašová: Institute of Atmospheric Physics, The Czech Academy of Sciences
Masafumi Imai: University of Iowa
Ondřej Santolík: Institute of Atmospheric Physics, The Czech Academy of Sciences
William Kurth: University of Iowa
George Hospodarsky: University of Iowa
Donald Gurnett: University of Iowa
John Connerney: NASA/Goddard Spaceflight Center

Nature, 2018, vol. 558, issue 7708, 87-90

Abstract: Abstract Lightning has been detected on Jupiter by all visiting spacecraft through night-side optical imaging and whistler (lightning-generated radio waves) signatures1–6. Jovian lightning is thought to be generated in the mixed-phase (liquid–ice) region of convective water clouds through a charge-separation process between condensed liquid water and water-ice particles, similar to that of terrestrial (cloud-to-cloud) lightning7–9. Unlike terrestrial lightning, which emits broadly over the radio spectrum up to gigahertz frequencies10,11, lightning on Jupiter has been detected only at kilohertz frequencies, despite a search for signals in the megahertz range 12 . Strong ionospheric attenuation or a lightning discharge much slower than that on Earth have been suggested as possible explanations for this discrepancy13,14. Here we report observations of Jovian lightning sferics (broadband electromagnetic impulses) at 600 megahertz from the Microwave Radiometer 15 onboard the Juno spacecraft. These detections imply that Jovian lightning discharges are not distinct from terrestrial lightning, as previously thought. In the first eight orbits of Juno, we detected 377 lightning sferics from pole to pole. We found lightning to be prevalent in the polar regions, absent near the equator, and most frequent in the northern hemisphere, at latitudes higher than 40 degrees north. Because the distribution of lightning is a proxy for moist convective activity, which is thought to be an important source of outward energy transport from the interior of the planet16,17, increased convection towards the poles could indicate an outward internal heat flux that is preferentially weighted towards the poles9,16,18. The distribution of moist convection is important for understanding the composition, general circulation and energy transport on Jupiter.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0156-5

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