Titan's highly dynamic magnetic environment: A systematic survey of Cassini magnetometer observations from flybys TA–T62

Simon, Sven; Wennmacher, A.; Neubauer, F. M.; Bertucci, C.; Kriegel, H.; Saur, Joachim; Russell, C. T.; Dougherty, M. K.

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2010.04.021

Cited by 70 publications

(205 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(81 reference statements)

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“…The electric field is calculated for two cases (i) where the current sheet is in rapid axial motion (u z = 0) (solid lines) and (ii) where the current sheet is at rest with respect to Titan (u z = 0) (dashed lines). The dotted vertical lines indicate the extents of the current sheet as defined by the B ρ <= 0.6B criterion of Simon et al (2010a).…”

Section: Modelling Variations In the Convection Electric Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At Titan's orbital distance (semi-major axis = 1.22 × 10 6 km = 20.27 R S where 1 R S = 60 268 km) the observed magnetic field can become radially stretched at locations just outside Saturn's magnetodisc current sheet, itself a principal external field source (Arridge et al, 2008c). Vertical motions of this magnetodisc (Arridge et al, 2008a;Simon et al, 2010a) can place Titan alternately inside this current sheet or in the lobe-type regions adjacent to the sheet, which are relatively devoid of plasma. The plasma is centrifugally confined in this magnetodisc whereas the energetic particles are free to extend to higher latitudes (e.g., Achilleos et al, 2010;Sergis et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The plasma is centrifugally confined in this magnetodisc whereas the energetic particles are free to extend to higher latitudes (e.g., Achilleos et al, 2010;Sergis et al, 2011). A number of authors have attempted to classify the upstream environment of Titan (Rymer et al, 2009;Simon et al, 2010a;Garnier et al, 2010) using a variety of criteria to produce categories such as "plasma sheet", "current sheet" and "lobe". These classifications have proven to be useful in understanding flyby-to-flyby variability of Titan's atmosphere (e.g., Westlake et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cassini studies of the regions upstream of Titan have shown that the magnetic field there is very frequently in a radial orientation (Arridge et al, 2008c;Bertucci et al, 2009;Simon et al, 2010a). It can also be highly variable, changing from a north-south orientation to a radial orientation over timescales of less than one hour (Arridge et al, 2008a;Simon et al, 2010b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Electric field variability and classifications of Titan's magnetoplasma environment

2011

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Abstract. The atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon Titan is driven by photochemistry, charged particle precipitation from Saturn's upstream magnetosphere, and presumably by the diffusion of the magnetospheric field into the outer ionosphere, amongst other processes. Ion pickup, controlled by the upstream convection electric field, plays a role in the loss of this atmosphere. The interaction of Titan with Saturn's magnetosphere results in the formation of a flow-induced magnetosphere. The upstream magnetoplasma environment of Titan is a complex and highly variable system and significant quasi-periodic modulations of the plasma in this region of Saturn's magnetosphere have been reported. In this paper we quantitatively investigate the effect of these quasiperiodic modulations on the convection electric field at Titan. We show that the electric field can be significantly perturbed away from the nominal radial orientation inferred from Voyager 1 observations, and demonstrate that upstream categorisation schemes must be used with care when undertaking quantitative studies of Titan's magnetospheric interaction, particularly where assumptions regarding the orientation of the convection electric field are made.

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Section: Modelling Variations In the Convection Electric Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Electric field variability and classifications of Titan's magnetoplasma environment

2011

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“…Persoon et al, 2005Persoon et al, , 2006Morooka et al, 2009). Simon et al (2010a) classified the first 62 Titan flybys as lobe-type or current sheet. They concluded that not a single flyby up to then matched the Voyager picture of a homogeneous background magnetic field perpendicular to the moon's orbital plane.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The orientation of Titan’s dayside ionosphere and its effects on Titan’s plasma interaction

Ledvina

Brecht²,

Cravens

2012

Earth Planet Sp

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A hybrid particle code has been used to examine how Titan's interaction with Saturn's magnetosphere is effected by the orientation of the dayside ionosphere with respect to the incident magnetospheric flow. The hybrid code self-consistently includes a version of Titan's ionosphere represented by 7 generic ion species, over 40 ionneutral chemical reactions, ion-neutral collisions and Hall and Pederson conductivities. Emphasis is placed on what effects the orientation angle has on the ion loss rates, ion densities, and the electric and magnetic fields. The results are analyzed and regardless of the orientation angle the ionosphere is found to be within photochemical equilibrium below 1200 km altitude. The ion loss rates and field structures also show little dependence on the orientation of the dayside ionosphere. It is found to first order illumination angle does not have a significant effect on these features of the Titan interaction.

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Variability of Titan's induced magnetotail: Cassini magnetometer observations

et al. 2014

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We study the structure and variability of Titan's magnetotail by analyzing Cassini magnetic field observations from all tail crossings between 2005 and 2013. Titan's magnetotail is strongly affected by fluctuations in the ambient magnetospheric field conditions. Therefore, even Titan flybys with nearly identical trajectories may reveal a completely different location and strength of the perturbations in the moon's tail. Short-scale variations of the ambient magnetospheric field may cause a "fragmentation" of Titan's magnetic lobes, as also seen in Cassini Plasma Spectrometer ion data. By transforming the magnetic field perturbations detected during all available tail crossings to the Draping Coordinate System, we identified the following general characteristics of Titan's plasma interaction: (1) Perpendicular to the background magnetic field and the corotation direction, Titan's magnetotail is confined to a narrow region with a diameter of about 5 Titan radii. Thus, Titan's tail exhibits a rather "flat" structure reminiscent of a delta wing. (2) The plasma incident upon Titan does not possess a significant velocity component along the Saturn-Titan line. (3) The nonzero component of the background field along the corotation direction generates an asymmetry of Titan's magnetotail which clearly manifests in Cassini magnetometer data.

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Titan's highly dynamic magnetic environment: A systematic survey of Cassini magnetometer observations from flybys TA–T62

Cited by 70 publications

References 31 publications

Electric field variability and classifications of Titan's magnetoplasma environment

Electric field variability and classifications of Titan's magnetoplasma environment

The orientation of Titan’s dayside ionosphere and its effects on Titan’s plasma interaction

Variability of Titan's induced magnetotail: Cassini magnetometer observations

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