Io's magnetospheric interaction: an MHD model with day-night asymmetry

In this paper we present the results of an improved three-dimensional MHD m odel for Io's interaction with Jupiter's magnetosphere. We have included th e day-night asymmetry into the spatial distribution of our mass-loading, wh ich allowed us to reproduce several smaller features of the Galileo Decembe r 1995 data set. The calculation is performed using our newly modified desc ription of the pick-up processes that accounts for the effects of the corot ational electric field existing in the Jovian magnetosphere. This change in the formulation of the source terms for the MHD equations resulted in sign ificant improvements in the comparison with the Galileo measurements. We br iefly discuss the limitations of our model and possible future improvements . (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.