Other
Scientific paper
Sep 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996dps....28.0427m&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #28, #04.27; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.1075
Other
Scientific paper
OH is widely distributed in the Saturn magnetosphere. It has been observed by Shemansky, et al. [Nature, 363, 329-331, 1993, 1994] to fill the orbital plane of the icy satellites from Enceladus to Dione, with densities ranging from 10(3) OH cm(-3) to 180(-3) cm(-3) . Establishing workable models to account for the abundance of this gas has been problematic because source processes explored to date for the gas are insufficient to produce the observed amount of OH. Modeling problems are compounded by the fact that Voyager plasma measurements [Richardson and Sittler, JGR, 95, 12019-31, 1990] are seemingly inconsistent with the existance of dense neutral clouds. We will present results from a 2-d plasma/neutral cloud simulation which addresses directly the compatibility of the neutral cloud and plasma observations. Shemansky, et al. [1993] report the required neutral source rate to be 2x 10(27) H_2O and O s(-1) in order produce sufficient OH. Shi, et al. [JGR, 100, 16387-26395 1995] report that UV photon and ion impact sputtering processes are insufficient to produce this rate. We will present evidence that in order to model the Voyager-measured heavy ion content the required neutral source rate may be higher still, ranging from 4 to 8 x 10(27) H_2O s(-1) . Additionally, we find that Rhea must be a very minor contributor of neutral gas to the Saturn magnetosphere, else the Voyager plasma measurements cannot be reproduced. Taken with Sieveka and Johnson's [Icarus, 51, 528-548, 1982] work, this indicates that the major source of neutrals must be derived from processes other than ion impact sputtering on the icy satellite surfaces, since the flux of energetic ions on Rhea alone would indicate that more neutrals are derived from it. Atomic Hydrogen is also a major constituent of the magnetosphere. We find that charge exchange with O(+) is sufficient that the dominant ion throughout the icy satellite system may be H_2O(+) .
Matheson P. L.
Shemansky Don E.
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