Good day.
Today, Prof. Lorenz Roth will be discussing one of the most fascinating and dynamic bodies in our solar system—Jupiter’s moon, Io. Since the Voyager flybys in 1979, we’ve known Io as a place of extreme volcanic activity, constantly shaping its surface and influencing its environment. Not only is Io a geologically active moon, but it also plays a crucial role in the vast magnetosphere of Jupiter by being a major source of plasma.
While the volcanic activity on Io is unpredictable and ever-changing, the plasma environment around Jupiter is typically stable, changing only occasionally in a major way, roughly once or twice per decade. In this presentation, Prof. Lorenz Roth will review the current understanding of Io’s volcanic activity, its atmosphere, and the magnetospheric environment, and how all these factors contribute to the transfer of material from Io to the plasma torus and beyond.
Prof. Lorenz Roth will also touch on how upcoming space missions, such as Juno, JUICE, and Europa Clipper, will help us unlock even more mysteries surrounding Io’s role in Jupiter’s magnetosphere. Let’s dive in!
