The Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation

Gurnett, D. A.; Kurth, W. S.; Kirchner, D. L.; Hospodarsky, G. B.; Averkamp, T. F.; Zarka, Philippe; Lecacheux, A.; Manning, Robert E.; Roux, A.; Canu, P.; Cornilleau‐Wehrlin, N.; Galopeau, Patrick H. M.; Meyer, Andrea; Boström, R.; Gustafsson, G.; Wahlund, Jan‐Erik; Åhlén, L.; Rücker, H. O.; Ladreiter, H. P.; Macher, W.; Woolliscroft, L. J. C.; Alleyne, H.; Kaiser, M. L.; Desch, M. D.; Farrell, W. M.; Harvey, C. C.; Louarn, P.; Kellogg, P. J.; Goetz, K.; Pedersen, Å.

doi:10.1007/s11214-004-1434-0

Cited by 475 publications

(398 citation statements)

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“…The analysis uses the integrated intensity of the radio waves (integration over 10 min in time and over 80-500 kHz in frequency for SKR, and 3-8 kHz for the narrowband emissions) as measured by the Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument (Gurnett et al, 2004). The integrated intensity is distance-normalized by dividing by the average intensity over one Saturn rotation.…”

Section: Skr and Narrowband Radio Emission Modulation Spectrogramsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A possible influence of the Great White Spot on Saturn kilometric radiation periodicity

Fischer

Groene

et al. 2014

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. The periodicity of Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR) varies with time, and its two periods during the first 5 years of the Cassini mission have been attributed to SKR from the northern and southern hemisphere. After Saturn equinox in August 2009, there were long intervals of time (March 2010 to February 2011 and September 2011 to June 2012) with similar northern and southern SKR periods and locked SKR phases. However, from March to August 2011 the SKR periods were split up again, and the phases were unlocked. In this time interval, the southern SKR period slowed down by ~ 0.5% on average, and there was a large jump back to a faster period in August 2011. The northern SKR period speeded up and coalesced again with the southern period in September 2011. We argue that this unusual behavior could be related to the so-called Great White Spot (GWS), a giant thunderstorm that raged in Saturn's atmosphere around that time. For several months in 2011, the visible head of the GWS had the same period of ~ 10.69 h as the main southern SKR modulation signal. The GWS was most likely a source of intense gravity waves that may have caused a global change in Saturn's thermospheric winds via energy and momentum deposition. This would support the theory that Saturn's magnetospheric periodicities are driven by the upper atmosphere. Since the GWS with simultaneous SKR periodicity measurements have only been made once, it is difficult to prove a physical connection between these two phenomena, but we provide plausible mechanisms by which the GWS might modify the SKR periods.

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Section: Skr and Narrowband Radio Emission Modulation Spectrogramsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A possible influence of the Great White Spot on Saturn kilometric radiation periodicity

Fischer

Groene

et al. 2014

Ann. Geophys.

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“…In such a case the base impedances have to be taken into account. This can change the results significantly, in particular near the resonance frequencies, as Gurnett et al (2004), Macher et al (2007) and Bale et al (2008) have already shown in the context of former spaceborne antennas.…”

Section: Effective Area Patternmentioning

confidence: 89%

High-frequency performance of electric field sensors aboard the RESONANCE satellite

Sampl

Macher

Gruber

et al. 2015

Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst.

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Abstract. We present the high-frequency properties of the eight electric field sensors as proposed to be launched on the spacecraft "RESONANCE" in the near future. Due to the close proximity of the conducting spacecraft body, the sensors (antennas) have complex receiving features and need to be well understood for an optimal mission and spacecraft design. An optimal configuration and precise understanding of the sensor and antenna characteristics is also vital for the proper performance of spaceborne scientific instrumentation and the corresponding data analysis. The provided results are particularly interesting with regard to the planned mutual impedance experiment for measuring plasma parameters. Our computational results describe the extreme dependency of the sensor system with regard to wave incident direction and frequency, and provides the full description of the sensor system as a multi-port scatterer. In particular, goniopolarimetry techniques like polarization analysis and direction finding depend crucially on the presented antenna characteristics. The RESONANCE projectThe RESONANCE project is dedicated to the investigation of properties and features of Earth's auroral acceleration zone as well as near-equatorial phenomena. The missions overarching goal is to study wave-particle interactions in the inner magnetosphere. Features to be observed include the energy transfer between energetic particle species, particle precipitation, the magnetospheric cyclotron maser and the generation of planetary radio emissions (Demekhov et al., 2003) such as the auroral kilometric radiation. Comprised of four satellites and flying a magneto-synchronous formation, the mission seems ideal for the investigation of effects and processes which are occurring along the geomagnetic flux tubes. Of particular interest is the energy exchange between the ionospheric and magnetospheric layers of Earth's atmosphere. Compared to previous radio science missions (cf. Table 1;Boudjada et al., 2010), RESONANCE provides the unique feature of sampling the same physical parameters in two space regions belonging to the same magnetic flux tube. The mission features, as well as the proposed spacecraft design, have already been described in Mogilevsky et al. (2002Mogilevsky et al. ( , 2013.The measurement of electric field parameters in spaceborne radio astronomy poses a substantial challenge, since the observed values range from several Hz to several 10s of MHz (in case of RESONANCE 10 MHz) and often comprises a large dynamic range. Gurnett (1998) provided a good overview and showed the large range that instruments usually have to cover in frequency, power, time and spatial scale. This is caused not only by the desire of the mission planers for acquiring a maximized data set, spanning as many phenomena as possible, but also by the fact that the satellite trajectories often pass through regions of different ambient conditions.Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.

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“…Data was analysed mainly from the magnetometer and use the plasma instruments, the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) [Gurnett et al, 2004] and the Ion Mass Spectrometer (CAPS-IMS) [Young et al, 2004]. Since the focal point of this study is a much smaller sample size of crossings, the Mach numbers …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 3.1 shows where each of the twelve instruments are located on the spacecraft. The data presented and interpreted in these studies are principally from Cassini's Fluxgate Magnetometer (MAG) [Dougherty et al, 2004] with supporting data from the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) [Gurnett et al, 2004] and Ion Mass Spectrometer (IMS) [Young et al, 2004]. In this chapter, we will begin with a brief overview of the mission and then describe the instruments used.…”

Section: Spacecraft and Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The multi-purpose RPWS instrument comprises a suite of three orthogonal search coil magnetic antennas and three orthogonal electric field antennas to detect magnetic fields in a frequency range of 1 Hz to 12 kHz and electric fields in a range of 1 Hz to 16 MHz respectively [Gurnett et al, 2004]. A Langmuir probe is used to measure local electron density and temperature.…”

Section: Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (Rpws) Instrumentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Near-Saturn Magnetic Field Environment

Sulaiman

2017

Springer Theses

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Shock waves exist throughout the universe and are fundamental to understanding the nature of collisionless plasmas. The complex coupling between charged particles and electromagnetic fields in plasmas give rise to a whole host of mechanisms for dissipation and heating across shock waves, particularly at high Mach numbers. While ongoing studies have investigated these process extensively both theoretically and via simulations, their observations remain few and far between. This thesis presents a study of very high Mach number shocks in a parameter space that has been poorly explored and identifies reformation using in situ magnetic field observations from the This non-axisymmetry is revealed to have an impact in the rotation of the magnetic field and is significant enough to influence the magnetic shear at the magnetopause.

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The Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation

Cited by 475 publications

References 89 publications

A possible influence of the Great White Spot on Saturn kilometric radiation periodicity

A possible influence of the Great White Spot on Saturn kilometric radiation periodicity

High-frequency performance of electric field sensors aboard the RESONANCE satellite

The Near-Saturn Magnetic Field Environment

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