Logo: to the web site of Uppsala University

uu.sePublications from Uppsala University
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
On the equatorial dayside ionosphere of Saturn-In-situ observations give evidence for a dynamic and layered structure in disequilibrium
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Physics, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala Division.
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Physics, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala Division.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2926-6761
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9958-0241
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Physics, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala Division.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2158-6074
Show others and affiliations
2025 (English)In: Icarus, ISSN 0019-1035, E-ISSN 1090-2643, Vol. 441, article id 116647Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The Cassini observations of Saturn's ionosphere during the proximal orbits 288-293 in the altitude range 1450-4000 km (above 1-bar level) are revisited. A thorough re-analysis is made of all 159 available Langmuir probe sweeps of the Radio & Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) measurements. We relate them to the RPWS plasma wave inferred electron number densities and compare them with the available Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) measurements of the H+ and H-3(+) number densities. Different analysis methods are used by RPWS to provide consistent electron number density values for the whole measured altitude interval. Consistent RPWS electron number density (n(e)) and INMS positively charged ion number density (n(i+)) profiles are derived for altitudes above similar to 2200 km. Below this altitude the inability of INMS to measure ions above 8 amu at the 34 km/s flyby speed lead us to infer the presence of heavy ions (> 8 amu) and a negatively charged ion component, presumably related to infalling material from the D-ring of Saturn with its associated local ion-molecule-aerosol chemistry. This lower altitude region shows a highly time variable layered structure. The Langmuir probe data in this region are strongly affected by secondaries emitted from the spacecraft and sensor surfaces when traversing a molecule-rich atmosphere at 34 km/s. There are clear signatures of secondary electron and ion emissions from the spacecraft and sensor surfaces in the data. In the Langmuir probe sweep analysis, we correct for the effect of such impact-generated products. This gives corrected total ion number densities that can be compared to the INMS ion number densities and the electron number densities. From this analysis the number of negative ions and/or nm-sized aerosol/dust particles can be constrained. A clear ionospheric peak is not identified, not even at the lowest observed altitude of approximately 1450 km. There are clear latitudinal variations and temporal evolving structures, which we infer are representative of the difference in infalling material from different regions of the D-ring. In addition, there are indications of a strong heating source for the ambient electrons that are well above expected thermal equilibrium levels (up to 4000 K). The cause of this heating is unknown but may be linked to collisional deacceleration of infalling ring material. The observational profiles presented here can be used for ionosphere theory/model comparisons in the future.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2025. Vol. 441, article id 116647
Keywords [en]
Cassini, Saturn, Ionosphere, Rings, Aerosol
National Category
Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-563429DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2025.116647ISI: 001513149700001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105008091220OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-563429DiVA, id: diva2:1983123
Funder
Swedish National Space Board, 10.17189/1519612Available from: 2025-07-09 Created: 2025-07-09 Last updated: 2025-07-09Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(16791 kB)291 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 16791 kBChecksum SHA-512
94367a0da3ff1d459101ea47206ece15f2df786a0421dce43191f488a7ab3b038a8a646189fdc84ec0bdbff473546fbf779ec0298aa050eedcdd861314e1f802
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Eriksson, AndersMorooka, MichikoBuchert, StephanPersson, MoaVigren, Erik

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Eriksson, AndersMorooka, MichikoBuchert, StephanPersson, MoaVigren, Erik
By organisation
Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala DivisionDepartment of Physics and Astronomy
In the same journal
Icarus
Fusion, Plasma and Space Physics

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 292 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 292 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf