Warping of Saturn's magnetospheric and magnetotail current sheets

Details Warping of Saturn's magnetospheric and magnetotail current sheets Warping of Saturn's magnetospheric and magnetotail current sheets

Aug 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008jgra..11308217a&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 113, Issue A8, CiteID A08217

Physics

48

Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects: Saturn, Magnetospheric Physics: Magnetospheric Configuration And Dynamics, Magnetospheric Physics: Plasma Sheet, Magnetospheric Physics: Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions, Magnetospheric Physics: Ring Current

Scientific paper

The magnetotails of Jupiter and Earth are known to be hinged so that their orientation is controlled by the magnetic field of the planet at small distances and asymptotically approach the direction of the flow of the solar wind at large distances. In this paper we present Cassini observations showing that Saturn's magnetosphere is also similarly hinged. Furthermore, we find that Saturn's magnetosphere is not only hinged in the tail but also on the dayside, in contrast to the Jovian and terrestrial magnetospheres. Over the midnight, dawn, and noon local time sectors we find that the current sheet is displaced above Saturn's rotational equator, and thus the current sheet adopts the shape of a bowl or basin. We present a model to describe the warped current sheet geometry and show that in order to properly describe the magnetic field in the magnetosphere, this hinging must be incorporated. We discuss the impact on plasma observations made in Saturn's equatorial plane, the influence on Titan's magnetospheric interaction, and the effect of periodicities on the mean current sheet structure.

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