Reconnection- and Dipolarization-Driven Auroral Dawn Storms and Injections

Abstract

Jupiter displays many distinct auroral structures, among which auroral dawn storms and auroral injections are often observed contemporaneously. However, it is unclear if the contemporaneous nature of the observations is a coincidence or part of an underlying physical connection. We show six clear examples from a recent Hubble Space Telescope campaign (GO-14634) that each display both auroral dawn storms and auroral injection signatures. We found that these conjugate phenomena could exist during intervals of either relatively low or high auroral activity, as evidenced by the varied levels of total auroral power. In situ observations of the magnetosphere by Juno show a strong magnetic reconnection event inside of 45 Jupiter radii (RJ) on the predawn sector, followed by two dipolarization events within the following 2 hr, coincident with the auroral dawn storm and auroral injection event. We therefore suggest that the auroral dawn storm is the manifestation of magnetic reconnection in the dawnside magnetosphere. The dipolarization region is mapped to the auroral injection, strongly suggesting that this was associated with the auroral injection. Since magnetic reconnection and dipolarization are physically connected, we therefore suggest that the often-conjugate auroral dawn storm and auroral injection events are also physically connected consequences.