6 Discussion
This work has presented initial results from a full-wave model of the propagation of Io-related Alfvén waves through the Jovian magnetosphere. While this is an improvement upon earlier models involving ray-tracing or simplified box geometries, it still neglects a number of features that can affect the structure and dynamics of the Io-generated aurora. Most importantly, the acceleration of the auroral particles themselves is not modeled. For example, the model does not take into account the presence of the transhemispheric electron beams, thought to be produced by electrons accelerated by Alfvén waves in the torus itself. Nevertheless, a number of features in the observations of the Io tail may be understood by the model results.