We present a new quantitative technique that determines the times and durations of substorm expansion and recovery phases and possible growth phases based on percentiles of the rate of change of auroral electrojet indices. By being able to prescribe different percentile values, we can determine the onset and duration of substorm phases for smaller or larger variations of the auroral index or indeed any auroral zone ground‐based magnetometer data. We apply this technique to the SuperMAG AL (SML) index and compare our expansion phase onset times with previous lists of substorm onsets. We find that more than 50% of events in previous lists occur within 20 min of our identified onsets. We also present a comparison of superposed epoch analyses of SML based on our onsets identified by our technique and existing onset lists and find that the general characteristics of the substorm bay are comparable. By prescribing user‐defined thresholds, this automated, quantitative technique represents an improvement over any visual identification of substorm onsets or indeed any fixed threshold method.

[1] We study the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) data obtained by the Cassini spacecraft during a $6.5-month interval when the spacecraft was approaching Saturn at heliocentric distances between $8.5 and $8.9 AU. It is shown that the structure of the IMF is consistent with that expected to be formed by corotating interaction regions (CIRs) during the declining phase of the solar cycle, with two sectors during each solar rotation, and crossings of the heliospheric current sheet generally embedded within few-day higher-field compression regions, separated by several-day lower-field rarefaction regions. This pattern was disrupted in November 2003, however, by an interval of high activity on the Sun. These data have then been employed to estimate the voltage associated with open flux production at Saturn's magnetopause using an empirical formula adapted from Earth. The results show that the CIR-related structuring of the IMF leads to corresponding structuring of the interplanetary interaction with Saturn's magnetosphere and hence also to intervals of very different dynamical behavior. During few-day compression regions where the IMF strength is $0.5-2 nT, the average Dungey cycle voltage is estimated to be $100 kV, such that the open flux produced over such intervals is $30-40 GWb, similar to the typical total amount present in Saturn's magnetosphere. The magnetosphere is thus significantly driven by the solar wind interaction during such intervals. During some rarefaction intervals, on the other hand, the field strength remains $0.1 nT or less over several days, implying reconnection voltages of $10 kV or less, with negligible production of open flux. The magnetosphere is then expected to enter a quiescent state, dominated by internal processes. Overall, $100 GWb of open flux is estimated to be produced during each $25-day solar rotation, about 3 times the typical flux contained in the tail, and sufficient to drive three to five substorms. We point out, however, that CIR-related variations in solar wind dynamic pressure will also occur in synchronism with the field variations, which may also play a role in modulating the open flux in the system, thus reinforcing the synchronization of the pattern of growth and decay of open flux to the CIR pattern. Estimates of open flux production associated with the period of strong solar activity indicate that major magnetospheric dynamics were excited by reconnection-mediated solar wind interaction during this interval.

[1] The first extended series of observations of Saturn's auroral emissions, undertaken by the Hubble Space Telescope in January 2004 in conjunction with measurements of the upstream solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) by the Cassini spacecraft, have revealed a strong auroral response to the interplanetary medium. Following the arrival of the forward shock of a corotating interaction region compression, bright auroras were first observed to expand significantly poleward in the dawn sector such that the area of the polar cap was much reduced, following which the auroral morphology evolved into a spiral structure around the pole. We propose that these auroral effects are produced by compression-induced reconnection of a significant fraction of the open flux present in Saturn's open tail lobes, as has also been observed to occur at Earth, followed by subcorotation of the newly closed flux tubes in the outer magnetosphere region due to the action of the ionospheric torque. We show that the combined action of reconnection and rotation naturally gives rise to spiral structures on newly opened and newly closed field lines, the latter being in the same sense as observed in the auroral images. The magnetospheric corollary of the dynamic scenario outlined here is that corotating interaction region-induced magnetospheric compressions and tail collapses should be accompanied by hot plasma injection into the outer magnetosphere, first in the midnight and dawn sector, and second at increasing local times via noon and dusk. We discuss how this scenario leads to a strong correlation of auroral and related disturbances at Saturn with the dynamic pressure of the solar wind, rather than to a correlation with the northsouth component of the IMF as observed at Earth, even though the underlying physics is similar, related to the transport of magnetic flux to and from the tail in the Dungey cycle.

[1] Saturn's magnetosphere is replete with magnetospheric periodicities; magnetic fields, plasma parameters, energetic particle fluxes, and radio emissions have all been observed to vary at a period close to that of Saturn's assumed sidereal rotation rate. In particular, periodicities in Saturn's magnetotail can be interpreted in terms of periodic vertical motion of Saturn's outer magnetospheric plasma sheet. The phase relationships between periodicities in different measurable quantities are a key piece of information in validating the various published models that attempt to relate periodicities in different quantities at different locations. It is important to empirically extract these phase relationships from the data in order to distinguish between these models, and to provide further data on which to base new conceptual models. In this paper a simple structural model of the flapping of Saturn's plasma sheet is developed and fitted to plasma densities in the outer magnetosphere, measured by the Cassini electron spectrometer. This model is used to establish the phase relationships between magnetic field periodicities in the cam region of the magnetosphere and the flapping of the plasma sheet. We find that the plasma sheet flaps in phase with B r and B and in quadrature with the B 8 component in the core/cam region. The plasma sheet phase also has a strong local time asymmetry. These results support some conceptual periodicity models but are in apparent contradiction with others, suggesting that future work is required to either modify the models or study additional phase relationships that are important for these models.

[1] We examine magnetic field data from 10 apoapsis passes of the Cassini spacecraft during 2006 when the spacecraft explored the midnight and dawn sectors of Saturn's magnetotail to down-tail distances of $65 R S (Saturn radius, R S , is 60,268 km). Oscillations in the radial component of the field near the $11 hour planetary period associated with north-south motions of the current sheet are ubiquitous in these data. Here, we examine and model the phase of these oscillations throughout the interval, taking account of both local time and radial propagation effects, and show that the oscillations exhibit dual periodicities. Those observed at distances exceeding $3 R S north of the modeled average center of the current sheet are found to oscillate near the modulation period of the northern Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR) emissions, while those observed south of this location oscillate near the modulation period of the southern SKR emissions. The phasing in both cases is consistent with the sense of the associated rotating quasi-uniform perturbation fields within the quasi-dipolar "core" region. We determine the structure of the current sheet as a function of the modeled phases, the results implying that the form of the modulation varies significantly over the beat cycle of the two oscillations. When the two field oscillations are in phase, the current sheet oscillates north-south with a peak-to-peak amplitude of $3 R S . When they are in antiphase, however, the thickness of the current sheet is also strongly modulated during the oscillation by factors of $2.

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We present a comprehensive study of the magnetic field and plasma signatures of reconnection events observed with the Cassini spacecraft during the tail orbits of 2006. We examine their "local" properties in terms of magnetic field reconfiguration and changing plasma flows. We also describe the "global" impact of reconnection in terms of the contribution to mass loss, flux closure, and large-scale tail structure. The signatures of 69 plasmoids, 17 traveling compression regions (TCRs), and 13 planetward moving structures have been found. The direction of motion is inferred from the sign of the change in the B θ component of the magnetic field in the first instance and confirmed through plasma flow data where available. The plasmoids are interpreted as detached structures, observed by the spacecraft tailward of the reconnection site, and the TCRs are interpreted as the effects of the draping and compression of lobe magnetic field lines around passing plasmoids. We focus on the analysis and interpretation of the tailward moving (south-to-north field change) plasmoids and TCRs in this work, considering the planetward moving signatures only from the point of view of understanding the reconnection x-line position and recurrence rates. We discuss the location spread of the observations, showing that where spacecraft coverage is symmetric about midnight, reconnection signatures are observed more frequently on the dawn flank than on the dusk flank. We show an example of a chain of two plasmoids and two TCRs over 3 hours and suggest that such a scenario is associated with a single-reconnection event, ejecting multiple successive plasmoids. Plasma data reveal that one of these plasmoids contains H+ at lower energy and W+ at higher energy, consistent with an inner magnetospheric source, and the total flow speed inside the plasmoid is estimated with an upper limit of 170 km/s. We probe the interior structure of plasmoids and find that the vast majority of examples at Saturn show a localized decrease in field magnitude as the spacecraft passes through the structure. We take the trajectory of Cassini into account, as, during 2006, the spacecraft's largely equatorial position beneath the hinged current sheet meant that it rarely traversed the center of plasmoids. We present an innovative method of optimizing the window size for minimum variance analysis (MVA) and apply this MVA across several plasmoids to explore their interior morphology in more detail, finding that Saturn's tail contains both loop-like and flux rope-like plasmoids. We estimate the mass lost downtail through reconnection and suggest that the apparent imbalance between mass input and observed plasmoid ejection may mean that alternative mass loss methods contribute to balancing Saturn's mass budget. We also estimate the rate of magnetic flux closure in the tail and find that when open field line closure is active, it plays a very significant role in flux cycling at Saturn.