Exploring the variability of Io and its torus via observations and modelling

Io and its torus, the “Io System” for short, play a key role in the global dynamics of the Jupiter System. While Io’s interior is heated by tides, its extended gas and plasma tori, driven by Io’s volcanic activity, feed mass, momentum and energy into the magnetosphere and its fast-spinning magnetodisk. The complex interplay between these different elements results in a highly dynamic system, whose variability spans a broad range of timescales, from hours to decades and more, and remains poorly understood. Despite the current limitations in our knowledge of the Io system, progress in understanding its variability will directly translate into a better understanding of the mechanisms driving this variability, and as a direct consequence, into a much better grasp of the drivers and variabilities of the Jupiter System as an integrated whole.