The location of magnetic reconnection at Saturn's magnetopause: A comparison with Earth

Fuselier, S. A.; Frahm, R. A.; Lewis, W. S.; Masters, A.; Mukherjee, J.; Petrinec, S. M.; Sillanpää, I.

doi:10.1002/2013ja019684

Cited by 57 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…It is thus expected that reconnection at Saturn's magnetopause is generally limited to regions of the magnetopause surface where the fields on either side of the boundary become almost antiparallel (note that this is presently consistent with observed reconnection signatures, e.g. Fuselier et al 2014). More recently, reported the results of a study that was similarly based on measured near-magnetopause conditions.…”

Section: Magnetic Reconnectionsupporting

confidence: 62%

“…In the case of Saturn's magnetosphere, in situ evidence for magnetopause reconnection has also been reported (Huddleston et al 1997;McAndrews et al 2008;Lai et al 2012;Fuselier et al 2014), and it has been suggested that some dayside auroral features are caused by bursts of magnetopause reconnection (Radioti et al 2011a;Badman et al 2012a. However, unlike Jupiter, no examples of FTEs have been identified to date (Lai et al 2012), and neither Saturn's auroral power nor the thickness on the magnetospheric boundary layer adjacent to the magnetopause show a clear response to the orientation of the IMF (unlike the case of Earth's magnetopause reconnection-driven magnetosphere) Clarke et al 2009;.…”

Section: Magnetic Reconnectionmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Solar Wind and Internally Driven Dynamics: Influences on Magnetodiscs and Auroral Responses

et al. 2014

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The dynamics of the giant planet magnetodiscs are strongly influenced by planetary rotation. Yet the solar wind must ultimately remove plasma from these rapidly rotating magnetodiscs at the same rate that plasma is transported radially outward from the source regions: the Io and Enceladus plasma tori. It is not clear how the solar wind influences magnetospheric dynamics when the dynamics are dominated by rotation. However, auroral observations provide important clues. We review magnetodisc sources and radial transport and the solar wind interaction with the giant magnetospheres of Jupiter and Saturn in an attempt to connect auroral features with specific drivers. We provide a discussion of auroral signatures that are related to the solar wind interaction and summarize with a discussion of global magnetospheric dynamics as illustrated by global MHD simulations. Many questions remain and it is the intent of this review to highlight several of the most compelling questions for future research.

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Section: Magnetic Reconnectionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Magnetic Reconnectionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Solar Wind and Internally Driven Dynamics: Influences on Magnetodiscs and Auroral Responses

et al. 2014

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“…Hence, dayside magnetopause reconnection is thought to be less common at Saturn than at Earth. Models of Saturn's magnetopause reconnection reveal also that reconnection is more likely to occur at higher latitudes [Desroche et al, 2013;Fuselier et al, 2014]. For instance, unlike at Earth, the IMF orientation does not strongly influence the thickness of Saturn's low-latitude boundary layer [Masters et al, 2011] nor the magnetopause location [Lai et al, 2012].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pulsations of the polar cusp aurora at Saturn

et al. 2016

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The magnetospheric cusp is a region connecting the interplanetary environment to the ionosphere and enabling solar wind particles to reach the ionosphere. We report the detection of several isolated high‐latitude auroral emissions with the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph of the Cassini spacecraft. We suggest that these auroral spots, located in the dawn‐to‐noon sector and poleward of the main emission, are the ionospheric signatures of the magnetospheric cusp, in agreement with some previous observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. The high‐latitude cusp auroral signature has been associated with high‐latitude lobe reconnection in the presence of a southward interplanetary magnetic field. The occurrence rate of the polar cusp aurora suggests that lobe reconnection is frequent at Saturn. Several auroral imaging sequences reveal a quasiperiodic brightening of the polar cusp aurora with a period in the range of 60 to 70 min. Similar pulsations in the energetic electron fluxes and in the azimuthal component of the magnetic field are simultaneously observed by Cassini instruments, suggesting the presence of field‐aligned currents. Pulsed dayside magnetopause reconnection is a likely common triggering process for the cusp auroral brightenings at Saturn and the quasiperiodic pulsations in the high‐latitude energetic electron fluxes.

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“…To combat this difficulty, this study uses results from the maximum magnetic shear model [ Trattner et al ., , ] for Cluster 3 crossings from 2001 to 2009 to identify crossings possibly near reconnection sites at the magnetopause. This model has been used previously for Earth and Saturn to identify the most probable location of reconnection across the magnetopause [e.g., Fuselier et al ., ; ; Trattner et al ., ; Vines et al ., ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occurrence frequency and location of magnetic islands at the dayside magnetopause

et al. 2017

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Simulations of magnetic reconnection often predict the formation of magnetic islands forming and propagating out through the reconnection exhaust region. However, to date, only a few observations of magnetic islands at the Earth's magnetopause have been identified and analyzed. Crossings near reconnection sites at the dayside magnetopause by Cluster from 2001 to 2009 are examined in a systematic effort to determine the frequency and location of magnetic islands. Using the maximum magnetic shear model as a guide for the distance to the reconnection site, 47 magnetopause crossings within 3 RE of the predicted reconnection site are examined. The occurrence of island structures in the reconnection exhaust is investigated in the context of how the type of reconnection, antiparallel or component, affects the frequency of formation of the islands. For Cluster magnetopause crossings confirmed to be near reconnection sites, island signatures, primarily bidirectional streaming electrons in the magnetosheath boundary layer, are seen for approximately 85% of the crossings and are common features for both antiparallel and component reconnection.

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The location of magnetic reconnection at Saturn's magnetopause: A comparison with Earth

Cited by 57 publications

References 54 publications

Solar Wind and Internally Driven Dynamics: Influences on Magnetodiscs and Auroral Responses

Solar Wind and Internally Driven Dynamics: Influences on Magnetodiscs and Auroral Responses

Pulsations of the polar cusp aurora at Saturn

Occurrence frequency and location of magnetic islands at the dayside magnetopause

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