Citation: | Yao, Z. H., Guo, R. L., Wei, Y., Bonfond, B., Grodent, D., Zhang, B. Z., Dunn, W. R., and Pu, Z. Y. (2024). Recent advances in the magnetic reconnection, dipolarization, and auroral processes at giant planets from the perspective of comparative planetology. Earth Planet. Phys., 8(3), 1–14. doi: 10.26464/epp2024017 |
Magnetic reconnection and dipolarization are crucial processes driving magnetospheric dynamics, including particle energization, mass circulation, and auroral processes, among others. Recent studies have revealed that these processes at Saturn and Jupiter are fundamentally different from the ones at Earth. The reconnection and dipolarization processes are far more important than previously expected in the dayside magnetodisc of Saturn and potentially Jupiter. Dayside magnetodisc reconnection was directly identified by using Cassini measurements (