Saturn's electrostatic discharges - Could lightning be the cause?

Details Saturn's electrostatic discharges - Could lightning be the cause? Saturn's electrostatic discharges - Could lightning be the cause?

May 1983

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1983icar...54..280b&link_type=abstract

(Saturn Conference, Tucson, AZ, May 11-15, 1982) Icarus (ISSN 0019-1035), vol. 54, May 1983, p. 280-295.

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40

Electric Discharges, Electrostatic Charge, Lightning, Planetary Radiation, Radio Bursts, Saturn Atmosphere, Equatorial Atmosphere, Ionospheric Propagation, Microwave Emission, Planetary Atmospheres, Planetary Ionospheres, Saturn Rings, Solar Flux, Thunderstorms, Voyager Project, Saturn, Electrostatic Effects, Discharges, Lightning, Atmosphere, Source, Ionosphere, Rings, Particles, Comparisons, Spectra

Scientific paper

It is proposed that Saturn's electrostatic discharges (SED) might be generated in the planet's equatorial atmosphere, perhaps as lightning from a storm system. The 10-h-10-min periodicity of the signal envelope duplicates that of Saturn's equatorial jet. The rings shield the atmosphere from solar EUV photons, and thereby substantially reduce the local ionospheric cutoff frequency to allow low-frequency SED to leak out. Many of the unusual properties of SED could be explained in terms of changes in the storm system, the relative spacecraft position in the beaming pattern of the source, local refraction of the signal by the highly disturbed ionosphere, and the influence of the ring particles on the highest frequency component of SED. A comparison of SED with planetary lightning on other planets shows that the two are similar in general character and some time behavior; the power output of SED may be higher than most planetary lightning, but that is unclear because of uncertainties in the measurements and variations in the signal's spectrum. It is suggested that lightning could be a viable source for SED and that exotic ring mechanisms are not necessarily required.

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