Modeling of magnetized sprite streamers in Jupiter’s atmosphere

The first observation of possible lightning-induced transient luminous events on Jupiter was reported recently. Whereas initiation of elves on Jupiter has been theoretically studied before, the possibility of sprite streamer inception on Jupiter has never been investigated. Here, we present the first modeling of streamers that are known to produce the brightest optical emissions among different types of transient luminous events in the Earth’s atmosphere. It is demonstrated that contrary to sprite streamers detected on Earth, the streamer plasma in Jupiter’s atmosphere is strongly magnetized. Subsequently, we report on development of a numerical model for simulation of magnetized streamers in presence of Jupiter’s strong magnetic field. The model utilizes the knowledge provided by recent observations of Jupiter’s magnetic field by the Juno spacecraft. Sprite streamer inception under the atmospheric conditions of Jupiter is investigated.