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Auroral current systems in Saturn's magnetosphere: comparison of theoretical models with Cassini and HST observations
Coates, A. J.; Dougherty, M. K.; Nichols, J. D. +7 more
The first simultaneous observations of fields and plasmas in Saturn's high-latitude magnetosphere and UV images of the conjugate auroral oval were obtained by the Cassini spacecraft and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in January 2007. These data have shown that the southern auroral oval near noon maps to the dayside cusp boundary between open and…
Plasma and fields in the wake of Rhea: 3-D hybrid simulation and comparison with Cassini data
Krupp, N.; Woch, J.; Fränz, M. +7 more
Rhea's magnetospheric interaction is simulated using a three-dimensional, hybrid plasma simulation code, where ions are treated as particles and electrons as a massless, charge-neutralizing fluid. In consistency with Cassini observations, Rhea is modeled as a plasma absorbing obstacle. This leads to the formation of a plasma wake (cavity) behind t…
Relationship between solar wind corotating interaction regions and the phasing and intensity of Saturn kilometric radiation bursts
Cecconi, B.; Lamy, L.; Badman, S. V. +2 more
Voyager spacecraft measurements of Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR) identified two features of these radio emissions: that they pulse at a period close to the planetary rotation period, and that the emitted intensity is correlated with the solar wind dynamic pressure (Desch and Kaiser, 1981; Desch, 1982; Desch and Rucker, 1983). In this study the…
Coupled rotational dynamics of Saturn's thermosphere and magnetosphere: a thermospheric modelling study
Smith, C. G. A.; Aylward, A. D.
We use a numerical model of Saturn's thermosphere to investigate the flow of angular momentum from the atmosphere to the magnetosphere. The thermosphere model is driven by Joule heating and ion drag calculated from a simple model of the magnetospheric plasma flows and a fixed model of the ionospheric conductivity. We describe an initial study in w…
Influence of non-stationary electromagnetic field conditions on ion pick-up at Titan: 3-D multispecies hybrid simulations
Glassmeier, K. -H.; Motschmann, U.; Simon, S.
Titan's interaction with the corotating Saturnian magnetospheric plasma is studied in terms of a three-dimensional electromagnetic hybrid model. This approach treats the electrons as a massless, charge-neutralizing fluid, whereas the ions are represented by macroparticles. The model considers two magnetospheric and three ionospheric ion species. I…
Analysis of plasma waves observed in the inner Saturn magnetosphere
Gurnett, D. A.; Coates, A. J.; Hospodarsky, G. B. +3 more
Plasma waves observed in the Saturn magnetosphere provide an indication of the plasma population present in the rotationally dominated inner magnetosphere. Electrostatic cyclotron emissions often with harmonics and whistler mode emission are a common feature of Saturn's inner magnetosphere. The electron observations for a region near 5 RS