The Role of Pedersen Conductance on the Dawn‐Dusk Asymmetries in Jupiter's Magnetosphere‐Ionosphere System: Model‐Data Comparisons

Abstract Jupiter's rapidly rotating magnetosphere, with internal plasma sources such as the volcanic moon Io, provides a unique natural laboratory for studying internally driven planetary magnetospheres. Using the Grid Agnostic Magnetohydrodynamics for Extended Research Applications (GAMERA) model, we simulated Jupiter's magnetosphere with variable ionospheric Pedersen conductances, which is mainly responsible for energy dissipation between the ionosphere and magnetosphere though convection. We chose values ranging from 0.5 to mho to investigate the Pedersen conductance's role in controlling mid‐magnetosphere region's dynamics and the closing of magnetosphere‐ionosphere currents. Simulated density, temperature, and radial and azimuthal flows in the equator are compared with observations from the Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) on the Juno spacecraft. All simulation cases exhibit dawn‐dusk asymmetries, in both the ionosphere and magnetosphere. The 0.5 case showed the best agreement with JADE observations, while the 1 case exhibited a magnetic topology more consistent with the auroral observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and Juno. These results enhance our understanding of Jupiter's magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling, provide context for observations, and inform the background parameters of future test particle simulations and data‐model comparisons using the GAMERA model.