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Mapping Magnetospheric Equatorial Regions at Saturn from Cassini Prime Mission Observations |
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| Authors: | C S Arridge N Andr�� H J McAndrews E J Bunce M H Burger K C Hansen H-W Hsu R E Johnson G H Jones S Kempf K K Khurana N Krupp W S Kurth J S Leisner C Paranicas E Roussos C T Russell P Schippers E C Sittler H T Smith M F Thomsen M K Dougherty |
| Institution: | 1. Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6NT, UK 2. The Centre for Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck, Gower St., London, WC1E 6BT, UK 3. CNRS, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Plan??tologie, 9 avenue du colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028, Toulouse Cedex 4, France 4. UPS-OMP, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Plan??tologie, Universit?? de Toulouse, 9 avenue du colonel Roche, 31028, Toulouse, France 5. ISR-1, Space and Atmospheric Sciences Group, LANL, P.O. Box 1663, MS D466, Los Alamos, NM, 87545-0000, USA 6. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK 7. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA 8. Center for Space Environment Modeling, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA 9. Max Planck Institute Nuclear Physics, Saupfercheckweg 1, Heidelberg, 69117, Germany 10. Engineering Physics Program and Astronomy Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA 11. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA 12. Max-Planck Institut fuer Sonnensystemforschung, Max-Planck-Str. 2, 37191, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany 13. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA 14. Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD, 20723-6099, USA 15. Centre d??Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, 9 avenue du Colonel Roche, 31028, Toulouse, France 16. The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London, SW7 2BZ, UK |
| Abstract: | Saturn??s rich magnetospheric environment is unique in the solar system, with a large number of active magnetospheric processes and phenomena. Observations of this environment from the Cassini spacecraft has enabled the study of a magnetospheric system which strongly interacts with other components of the saturnian system: the planet, its rings, numerous satellites (icy moons and Titan) and various dust, neutral and plasma populations. Understanding these regions, their dynamics and equilibria, and how they interact with the rest of the system via the exchange of mass, momentum and energy is important in understanding the system as a whole. Such an understanding represents a challenge to theorists, modellers and observers. Studies of Saturn??s magnetosphere based on Cassini data have revealed a system which is highly variable which has made understanding the physics of Saturn??s magnetosphere all the more difficult. Cassini??s combination of a comprehensive suite of magnetospheric fields and particles instruments with excellent orbital coverage of the saturnian system offers a unique opportunity for an in-depth study of the saturnian plasma and fields environment. In this paper knowledge of Saturn??s equatorial magnetosphere will be presented and synthesised into a global picture. Data from the Cassini magnetometer, low-energy plasma spectrometers, energetic particle detectors, radio and plasma wave instrumentation, cosmic dust detectors, and the results of theory and modelling are combined to provide a multi-instrumental identification and characterisation of equatorial magnetospheric regions at Saturn. This work emphasises the physical processes at work in each region and at their boundaries. The result of this study is a map of Saturn??s near equatorial magnetosphere, which represents a synthesis of our current understanding at the end of the Cassini Prime Mission of the global configuration of the equatorial magnetosphere. |
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