Whistlers Observed in the Magnetosphere of Saturn

Details Whistlers Observed in the Magnetosphere of Saturn Whistlers Observed in the Magnetosphere of Saturn

Dec 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agufm.p43a0946a&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2005, abstract #P43A-0946

Other

2467 Plasma Temperature And Density, 2756 Planetary Magnetospheres (5443, 5737, 6033), 6245 Meteors

Scientific paper

Whistlers generated by lightning have been observed in the magnetosphere of Saturn by the Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument. Three events have been observed, two on July 1, 2004, and one on October 28, 2004. We have concentrated our analysis on the event that occurred on October 28 because it is more clearly defined than the other two. This whistler was observed during the inbound pass of orbit A at a radial distance of 6.19 RS (Saturn radii) and a latitude of 12.3 degrees. The whistler has a good fit to the Eckersley law with a dispersion constant of 81 Hz1/2 sec. Because the computed dispersion is too small to be consistent with a southern hemisphere source, it is believed that the whistler originated from lightning in the northern hemisphere of Saturn. To compute the dispersion, we use a centrifugal Gaussian scale height model for the ions and assume that the plasma consists of hydrogen ions and the water group ions. We find that the observed dispersion can be explained if the equatorial fractional concentration of water group ions is 0.84, with a scale height of 1.08 RS, and the equatorial fractional concentration of hydrogen ions is 0.16, with a scale height of 4.32 RS. These results have been compared to a more complex diffusive equilibrium model. For each species, the parallel pressure balance equation has been solved by integrating along the field line, including the pressure gradient force, the centrifugal force, and the gravitational force. Even though there are slight differences, both models give very similar results.

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