The plasma environment of the magnetodisk of Saturn near Titan encounters as derived from ion densities measured by the Cassini/CAPS instrument

Details The plasma environment of the magnetodisk of Saturn near Titan encounters as derived from ion densities measured by the Cassini/CAPS instrument The plasma environment of the magnetodisk of Saturn near Titan encounters as derived from ion densities measured by the Cassini/CAPS instrument

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm11c1758s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM11C-1758

Physics

[2756] Magnetospheric Physics / Planetary Magnetospheres, [2764] Magnetospheric Physics / Plasma Sheet, [6281] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Titan

Scientific paper

Abstract We analyze ion densities derived from the data of the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, for the time period of the prime mission near Titan encounters till the end of May 2008. The objective was to explore the properties of the plasma region around the magnetodisk. Along the spacecraft orbit the sign of the radial component of the magnetic field frequently changed; around those locations we observed enhanced ion plasma density, the heavy ion density being higher that the proton density; the m/q=2 ions having the lowest density. We believe that these are the signatures of a plasma layer surrounding the magnetodisk. This plasma layer is denser and wider on the dayside of Saturn, quantitative characterization was also possible. The dayside, heavy ion dominated plasma sheet does not always reach Titan’s orbit. The location of the apparent altitude of the magnetodisk above the equator could be determined, this indicates a quickly moving and deforming disk. A peculiar feature of the heavy ion density values is that they are spiky, and do not exhibit smooth variation; indicating a filamentary structure of the outer magnetodisk. The plasma density shows periodical fluctuations in the distant regions, when those periodicities are seen in the magnetic field data, the intensity of the fluctuation depends on the distance from the magnetodisk. In the plasma sheet surrounding the magnetodisk the heavy ions have the highest density, in the lobes the protons dominate. Near the magnetodisk the heavy ion density and temperature anticorrelate.

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