Spatial and Temporal Variations in the Erosion of Saturn's Neutral Cloud

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

In Saturn's E-ring neutral cloud, ionization--whether it be photoionization, energetic particle impact, or charge exchange--is a significant loss process. Upon ionization, the particles from the neutral cloud are picked up and ionized by the local corotating magnetized plasma. If the pick-up velocity is great enough, then electromagnetic waves with frequencies near the local water-group gyrofrequencies, called ion cyclotron waves, will be generated. These waves have an amplitude determined by the energy put into the particles by the pick-up process. Recent images of plumes at and enhancements in ion cyclotron waves near Enceladus support the theory that this satellite is one of the dominant sources of neutral cloud material. The spatial variation of the ion cyclotron waves also points to a weak source at Tethys. The ion cyclotron wave amplitude changes from pass to pass. This indicates that the mass loading rate is quite variable in the saturnian system.

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