“…Perhaps the most important is the fact that the Jovian magnetosphere is rarely expected to be in steady state, since all model input parameters have either been shown to be or are expected to be functions of time (Ebert et al, ; Frank et al, ; Gruesbeck et al, ; Jackman & Arridge, ; Joy et al, ; Krupp et al, ). Particularly, relevant for magnetopause reconnection is the evidence that the typical time scale of IMF variability at Jupiter's orbit is considerably shorter than both the time taken for the unperturbed solar wind to travel a magnetopause standoff distance (~4 days), as well as the more significant and longer time taken for a change in the IMF immediately upstream of the subsolar bow shock to propagate through the slower magnetosheath flow regime and impact near‐magnetopause conditions (Ebert et al, ; Gruesbeck et al, ; Jackman & Arridge, ; McComas & Bagenal, ). The more realistic picture of large‐scale reconnection at Jupiter's magnetopause is therefore likely one where reconnection sites (X lines) are more mobile in response to relatively rapid changes in the upstream IMF and thus also where the reconnection voltages calculated here may be short‐lived.…”