Second Harmonic Hectometric Radio Emission at Jupiter

Abstract

Galileo has been in orbit around Jupiter since December 1995. The plasma wave instrument on board the spacecraft has occasionally detected a rotationally modulated attenuation band in the hectometric (HOM) emission that most likely is due to scattering of the radiation from density fluctuations along the Io L-shell, as reported earlier. The occurrence of the attenuation band is likely to be dependent on Io activity and the presence of density scattering centers along the Io-L-shell as well as the location of the source region. Some of the attenuation bands show clear indications of second harmonic emission. Without polarization measurements, it is difficult to place constraints on the local generation conditions based on the cyclotron maser instability, but the results imply that second harmonic emission could be present in the decametric (DAM) radiation as well. A survey of the data has revealed about 30 examples of second harmonic HOM.