Morphology of Saturn's Neutral Clouds: Interactions with the Plasma

Details Morphology of Saturn's Neutral Clouds: Interactions with the Plasma Morphology of Saturn's Neutral Clouds: Interactions with the Plasma

May 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agusmsm14a..03j&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2009, abstract #SM14A-03

Physics

5737 Magnetospheres (2756), 6275 Saturn, 7837 Neutral Particles (2151)

Scientific paper

Unlike at Jupiter, Saturn's magnetosphere is dominated by neutrals with a neutral to ion ratio near the magnetic equator ranging from ~102 to 104. These neutrals in turn are the principal source of the plasma for the magnetosphere. Embedded sources for hydrogen, likely the dominant species throughout the magnetosphere, are escape from Saturn and Titan, as well as the dissociation of ejected water molecules and the decomposition of icy surfaces throughout the system. The icy ring particles and satellite surfaces are significant source of oxygen-containing molecules which, on ionization, dominate the mass loading in the inner magnetosphere. The two principal oxygen sources are H2O from Enceladus and O2 from the main rings. In addition, the icy moon Enceladus and Titan's atmosphere are sources of nitrogen and carbon containing molecules. After describing our present understanding of the relative source strengths, we will focus on the morphology of the neutral clouds, which is determined by their source speeds and by their interactions with the plasma and UV radiation environment. Due to ionization, dissociation and reactive collisions, the radiation limits the neutral lifetimes but also scatters and redistributes neutrals throughout the magnetosphere. The spatial distribution of neutrals is also affected by interactions with surfaces and neutral- neutral collisions. Because the morphology of the neutral cloud determines the spatial distribution of the plasma source and loss processes, results of recent simulations of the morphology of the clouds will be presented.

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