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Tsunamis on Jupiter

28 December 2021
Astronomy

Another one from Robert – see https://phys.org/news/2021-12-juno-spacecraft-jupiter-moon.html … the Juno spacecraft hears Jupiter's moon Ganymede. Remarkable comparisons are made between phenomena on earth and jupiter, in the oceans and the atmosphere. This came during a Geophysical Union Meeting and a briefing by NASAs Tom Morris – complete with an audio tape of the electric and magnetic radio waves produced by Jupiter's magnetosphere. Their frequencies were shifted into the audio range to make an audio track which you can listen to at the link above. Halfway through there is an abrupt change in frequency which represents, it is suggested, the difference between night side and day side of Ganymede. Robert comments, Jupiter is magnetic but there is no mention of an electric current that generates the magnetic field. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system and has its own magnetic field.

Robert's second link is at https://phys.org/news/2021-12-tsunamis-magnetic-fields-sea.html …. tsunamis on earth can generate a magnetic field that can cause change in sea level. This is presumably the tsunami wave rising up above normal sea level as it rushes across the ocean towards land fall – and then riding up on the beach. Robert comments – tsunamis  move 'conductive' sea water [the electric current that generates a magnetic field]. Tsunamis generated by an earthquake, for example, can cause a rise in sea level as it approaches land fall – but this involves the creation of a magnetic field within the tsunami. In 2009 a tsunami wave in Samoa, and another one from Chile in 2010, were used as research. The magnetic field arrives on land ahead of the sea level change and its magnitude can be use to estimate the tsunami wave height. For further info see https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JB022760

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