Dual periodicities in planetary period magnetic field oscillations in Saturn's tail

Details Dual periodicities in planetary period magnetic field oscillations in Saturn's tail Dual periodicities in planetary period magnetic field oscillations in Saturn's tail

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsm11a2008p&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SM11A-2008

Physics

[2756] Magnetospheric Physics / Planetary Magnetospheres

Scientific paper

We examine magnetic field data from ten apoapsis passes of the Cassini spacecraft during 2006 when the spacecraft explored the midnight and dawn sectors of Saturn's magnetotail to down-tail distances of ~65 Rs (Saturn's radius, Rs, is 60268 km). Oscillations in the radial component of the field near the ~11 h planetary period associated with north-south motions of the current sheet are ubiquitous in these data. Here we examine and model the phase of these oscillations throughout the interval, taking account of both local time and radial propagation effects, and show that the oscillations exhibit dual periodicities. Those observed at distances exceeding ~3 Rs north of the modeled current sheet (plasma sheet) center are found to oscillate near the modulation period of the northern Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR) emissions, while those observed south of this location oscillate near the modulation period of the southern SKR emissions. The phasing in both cases is consistent with the sense of the associated rotating quasi-uniform perturbation fields within the quasi-dipolar 'core' region. We determine the structure of the current sheet as a function of the modeled phases, the results implying that the form of the modulation varies significantly over the beat cycle of the two oscillations. When the two field oscillations are in phase the current sheet simply oscillates north-south with a peak-to-peak amplitude of ~3 Rs. When they are in antiphase, however, the thickness of the current sheet is also strongly modulated during the oscillation, by factors of ~2.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Dual periodicities in planetary period magnetic field oscillations in Saturn's tail does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Dual periodicities in planetary period magnetic field oscillations in Saturn's tail, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Dual periodicities in planetary period magnetic field oscillations in Saturn's tail will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1889083