Magnetospheric Contribution to the Production of the Titan Ionosphere

Details Magnetospheric Contribution to the Production of the Titan Ionosphere Magnetospheric Contribution to the Production of the Titan Ionosphere

Sep 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.3009k&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #30.09

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Seven Cassini radio occultations have provided 13 electron density profiles in the Titan ionosphere. The first four were conducted in 2006(T12 and T14), and 2007(T27 and T31).The results are described in: Kliore A.J., et al.,JGR (2008). The 2006 observations probed the Titan ionosphere at low-to mid-S. latitudes, while the 2007 measurements were at N and S polar latitudes. In all cases the main peak was observed near 1,200 km. The peak density at low-latitudes ranged from 1,400 cm-3 near the dawn terminator to 1,800 cm-3 on the dusk side. At polar latitudes, the peak densities from T27 were 1,300 cm-3, but 2,800 cm-3 in T31, which also had large peaks( 2,000 cm-3) at 500 km. During the Cassini Extended Mission, three occultations,T46 in2008,and T52 and T57 in 2009, gave data at N and Snmid-latitudes, N polar, and equatorial regions, as well as diverse magnetospheric ram angles, which clarified the role of the Saturn magnetosphere in producing the Titan ionosphere.
The large difference in the peak densities observed on T31 and T57,and the presence of luwerpeaks, indicated that the ionization processes during T31 and T57 were different. These effwcts could be explained by a higher flux of energetic particles during T31and T57. Although particle precipitation appears to normally play a minor part in the production of the Titan ionosphere (J.-E. Wahlund, private comm.), it can be dominant at times of high flux . Indeed, at T31 the ion flux was more than 10 times higher than it was at T27, and the electron flux was about 5 times higher . In addition to the enhanced peak densities, the increased particle flux could have produced the peaks at 500 km observed on T31 (c.f. Cravens, et al., GRL, 2008)
This work was performed at JPL, the Univ.of Michigan,and JHU/APL ,under NASA contracts.

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