Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p51f..03r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P51F-03
Other
2720 Energetic Particles: Trapped, 2732 Magnetosphere Interactions With Satellites And Rings, 2740 Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, 2774 Radiation Belts, 5443 Magnetospheres (2756)
Scientific paper
After the first flybys at the outer planets by the Pioneer and Voyager probes, it became evident that energetic charged particle absorption features in the radiation belts are important tracers of magnetospheric dynamical features and parameters. Absorption signatures are especially important for characterizing the Saturnian magnetosphere. Due to the spin and magnetic axes' near-alignment, losses of particles to the icy moon surfaces and rings are higher compared to the losses at other planetary magnetospheres. The refilling rate of these absorption features (termed "micorsignatures") can be associated with particle diffusion. In addition, as these microsignatures drift with the properties of the pre-depletion electrons, they provide us direct information on the drift shell structure in the radiation belts and the factors that influence their shape. The multiple icy moon L-shell crossings by the Cassini spacecraft during the first 2 years of the mission provided us with almost 100 electron absorption events by eight different moons, at various longitudinal separations from each one and at various electron energies. Their analysis seems to give a consistent picture of the electron diffusion source and puts aside a lot of inconsistencies that resulted from relevant Pioneer and Voyager studies. The presence of non-axisymmetric particle drift shells even down to the orbit of Enceladus (3.98 Rs), also revealed through this analysis, suggests either large ring current disturbances or the action of global or localized electric fields. Finally, despite these absorption signatures being observed far from the originating moons, they can give us hints on the nature of the local interaction between each moon and the magnetospheric plasma. It is, nevertheless, beyond any doubt that energetic charged particle absorption signatures are a very powerful tool that can be used to effectively probe a series of dynamical processes in the Saturnian magnetosphere.
Dougherty K. M. K. M.
Jones Geraint H.
Krimigis Stamatios M.
Krupp Norbert
Lagg Andreas
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