Relativistic charged particle precipitation into Jupiterʹs sub-auroral atmosphere

Longitudinal variations of energetic charged particle precipitation into the jovian sub-auroral atmosphere are modeled based on weak diffusion scattering and variations in the local loss-cone size associated with asymmetries in the VIP-4 magnetic field model. Our scattering model solutions suggest that low latitude observations of enhanced H3+ and X-ray emissions are at least partially due to precipitating energetic particles. The correlation between model results and observations is best in the northern hemisphere at low L (1.5), where the surface magnetic field variation is largest and observations have the highest resolution. Weaker correlations in the southern hemisphere and at higher latitudes, particularly for H3+ emissions, are likely due to the presence of other energy sources, lack of resolution in the observations and limitations in the sub-auroral surface magnetic field model.