Evidence for Corotating Convection in Saturn's Magnetosphere

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5443 Magnetospheres (2756), 7859 Transport Processes, 2756 Planetary Magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6033)

Scientific paper

Saturn's magnetic field exhibits a high degree of azimuthal symmetry, yet the field and plasma signatures of the magnetosphere are modulated at a period close to that of planetary rotation. How, then, is a clear periodicity imposed on the magnetic field and plasma of the planetary magnetosphere? In this talk, Cassini magnetometer data are used to develop a scenario for the dynamics of the Saturn magnetosphere. The proposal is that mass transport, accomplished in the inner magnetosphere by interchange motion, feeds into the outer magnetosphere where ballooning driven by centrifugal stress leads to outward transport, field reconnection and plasma loss in a favored local time sector; flux is transported inward in other regions. The model is closely related to the concept of corotating convection proposed by Dessler, Hill, and co-workers for Jupiter. The proposed mechanism can be consistent with aspects of the empirical camshaft model introduced by Espinosa et al., 2003 to explain Pioneer and Voyager magnetometer data. Anomalous transport here proposed could originate from a localized ionospheric conductivity anomaly. The resulting cyclic stress modulates the current in the current sheet and can account for its north-south excursions. The convection patterns proposed also imply that corotating, field-aligned currents would be a basic feature of the Saturn system.

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