The interplanetary magnetic field and energetic electrons from Jupiter

The reported ∼4‐month "season" for observation of Jovian electron events at 1 a.u. is shown to be a plausible consequence of field‐line random walk in the solar wind. Values of the field‐line random‐walk coefficient deduced earlier in connection with observations of solar protons, photospheric supergranulation and the interplanetary magnetic‐field power spectrum, lead to an approximate value for the spread of Jovian electrons at 1 a.u. which corresponds to a ∼4‐month duration of events. This model is consistent with a point source at Jupiter.