The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in Saturn's outer magnetosphere

Details The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in Saturn's outer magnetosphere The Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in Saturn's outer magnetosphere

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmsm23a1938d&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #SM23A-1938

Physics

[2724] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetopause And Boundary Layers, [2728] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosheath, [2731] Magnetospheric Physics / Magnetosphere: Outer, [2784] Magnetospheric Physics / Solar Wind/Magnetosphere Interactions

Scientific paper

Observations of a plasma vortex in Saturn's dayside outer magnetosphere is evidence that the Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability is operating at Saturn's morning magnetospheric boundaries [Masters et al., 2010]. Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices can mediate the transport of mass, momentum, energy and magnetic flux at the magnetospheric boundaries and is therefore an important mechanism through which the solar wind interacts with the magnetosphere. We provide initial plasma properties from the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) during the December 13, 2004 magnetopause boundary encounter. These plasma properties (ion temperature, density, composition, and plasma flow) are used as input parameters for a two-dimensional hybrid simulation of the KH unstable planetward edge of Saturn's boundary layer region. We investigate the effect of heavy magnetospheric ions on the KH evolution and test the growth rates as a function of magnetosonic Mach number. We estimate diffusion coefficients due to KH plasma mixing and energy transported into Saturn's magnetosphere due to the KH unstable boundaries and conclude that viscous processes at Saturn's magnetospheric boundaries can play a significant role in driving magnetospheric dynamics.

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