Sources of Nitrogen in Saturn's Inner Magnetosphere

Details Sources of Nitrogen in Saturn's Inner Magnetosphere Sources of Nitrogen in Saturn's Inner Magnetosphere

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.1508s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #15.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.509

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The Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) detected low energy N+ during 15 orbits through Saturn's inner magnetosphere (3.5 Rs < L < 13.5Rs), providing the first evidence for locally ionized nitrogen in this region (Smith et al. 2005). The 1981 Voyager detection of unresolved mass/charge 14-16 amu/e ions in this region (Sittler et al. 1983) caused debate over the possible presence of N+ in Saturn's magnetosphere. However CAPS can distinguish between N+ and water group ions and we have confirmed the presence of nitrogen ions as an important species ( 10% of heavy ions) in the inner magnetosphere. Two principal nitrogen sources have been suggested: neutrals from Titan's atmosphere ionized in the inner magnetosphere (Smith et al. 2004) and nitrogen compounds trapped in the icy satellite and ring particle surfaces (Sittler et al 2005). We reported earlier a N+ spatial distribution consistent with a robust Enceladus source. Here we examine neutral tori and ion source distributions using 3-D Monte Carlo modeling of water/nitrogen molecule escape from Enceladus and nitrogen atoms/molecules from Titan, accounting for neutral recycling by low energy charge exchange collisions (Johnson et al 2006). Comparing our simulations to CAPS data indicates the dominant N+ source is the small icy moon Enceladus. The simulations further indicate the observations are consistent with out-gassing water vapor containing N2 (Waite et al. 2006) from the recently discovered Enceladus south polar jets, although other parent nitrogen molecules may also be present. We also examine the relative abundance of nitrogen to the dominant water group ions revealing a nitrogen spatial distribution resembling the observed neutral OH cloud. Interestingly, while Titan's nitrogen-rich atmosphere does not appear to be a significant source of nitrogen ionized near its orbit, a Titan-generated neutral nitrogen torus could produce a fraction of the ions we observe at distances less than 13Rs.

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