The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Field dipolarization in Saturn's magnetotail with planetward ion flows and energetic particle flow bursts: evidence of quasi-steady reconnection.

Field dipolarization in Saturn's magnetotail with planetward ion flows and energetic particle flow bursts: evidence of quasi-steady reconnection.
Field dipolarization in Saturn's magnetotail with planetward ion flows and energetic particle flow bursts: evidence of quasi-steady reconnection.
We present a case study of an event from August 20th (day 232) of 2006, when the Cassini spacecraft was sampling the region near 32 RS and 22 hours LT in Saturn's magnetotail. Cassini observed a strong northward-to-southward turning of the magnetic field, which is interpreted as the signature of dipolarization of the field as seen by the spacecraft planetward of the reconnection x-line. This event was accompanied by very rapid (up to ~1500 km s?1) thermal plasma flow toward the planet. At energies above 28 keV, energetic hydrogen and oxygen ion flow bursts were observed to stream planetward from a reconnection site downtail of the spacecraft. Meanwhile a strong field-aligned beam of energetic hydrogen was also observed to stream tailward, likely from an ionospheric source. Saturn Kilometric Radiation emissions were stimulated shortly after the observation of the dipolarization. We discuss the field, plasma, energetic particle and radio observations in the context of the impact this reconnection event had on global magnetospheric dynamics.
0148-0227
1-50
Jackman, C.M.
9bc3456c-b254-48f1-ade0-912c5b8b4529
Thomsen, M.F.
81992bfc-27a7-42f3-9e36-571ce61228a6
Mitchell, D.G.
5fcb9c91-8cd4-4dc3-9faa-77eedd0c6a07
Sergis, N.
4f763399-5901-4bdc-9bc7-2a57140a9f80
Arridge, C.S.
cddea13c-2c2a-44c8-9607-309820a0fb0f
Felici, M.
1de151d6-3ed8-4d2b-a231-e673e7f94a05
Badman, S.V.
d7a85630-ef13-4da4-a50d-b410d84fc61e
Paranicas, C.
afafdeb4-2f93-4322-848f-f35eb7054fb0
Jia, X.
d4c719a7-fb60-480f-82b5-bbdd0f4ee6ca
Hospodarksy, G.B.
d563bcbf-5d0e-40c0-9887-6846f6fe22ef
Andriopoulou, M.
70018ad1-b7db-4cd0-8d95-ad484b92e5b1
Khurana, K.K.
13e3a0d9-2a06-4bff-8a6a-7de9a4e304e2
Smith, A.W.
f719dbf6-612c-4ecb-9ec8-ae0ac74928eb
Dougherty, M.K.
dfb81a1a-1b8d-4326-8416-5f66eb79e00a
Jackman, C.M.
9bc3456c-b254-48f1-ade0-912c5b8b4529
Thomsen, M.F.
81992bfc-27a7-42f3-9e36-571ce61228a6
Mitchell, D.G.
5fcb9c91-8cd4-4dc3-9faa-77eedd0c6a07
Sergis, N.
4f763399-5901-4bdc-9bc7-2a57140a9f80
Arridge, C.S.
cddea13c-2c2a-44c8-9607-309820a0fb0f
Felici, M.
1de151d6-3ed8-4d2b-a231-e673e7f94a05
Badman, S.V.
d7a85630-ef13-4da4-a50d-b410d84fc61e
Paranicas, C.
afafdeb4-2f93-4322-848f-f35eb7054fb0
Jia, X.
d4c719a7-fb60-480f-82b5-bbdd0f4ee6ca
Hospodarksy, G.B.
d563bcbf-5d0e-40c0-9887-6846f6fe22ef
Andriopoulou, M.
70018ad1-b7db-4cd0-8d95-ad484b92e5b1
Khurana, K.K.
13e3a0d9-2a06-4bff-8a6a-7de9a4e304e2
Smith, A.W.
f719dbf6-612c-4ecb-9ec8-ae0ac74928eb
Dougherty, M.K.
dfb81a1a-1b8d-4326-8416-5f66eb79e00a

Jackman, C.M., Thomsen, M.F., Mitchell, D.G., Sergis, N., Arridge, C.S., Felici, M., Badman, S.V., Paranicas, C., Jia, X., Hospodarksy, G.B., Andriopoulou, M., Khurana, K.K., Smith, A.W. and Dougherty, M.K. (2015) Field dipolarization in Saturn's magnetotail with planetward ion flows and energetic particle flow bursts: evidence of quasi-steady reconnection. Journal of Geophysical Research, 1-50. (doi:10.1002/2015JA020995).

Record type: Article

Abstract

We present a case study of an event from August 20th (day 232) of 2006, when the Cassini spacecraft was sampling the region near 32 RS and 22 hours LT in Saturn's magnetotail. Cassini observed a strong northward-to-southward turning of the magnetic field, which is interpreted as the signature of dipolarization of the field as seen by the spacecraft planetward of the reconnection x-line. This event was accompanied by very rapid (up to ~1500 km s?1) thermal plasma flow toward the planet. At energies above 28 keV, energetic hydrogen and oxygen ion flow bursts were observed to stream planetward from a reconnection site downtail of the spacecraft. Meanwhile a strong field-aligned beam of energetic hydrogen was also observed to stream tailward, likely from an ionospheric source. Saturn Kilometric Radiation emissions were stimulated shortly after the observation of the dipolarization. We discuss the field, plasma, energetic particle and radio observations in the context of the impact this reconnection event had on global magnetospheric dynamics.

Text
pdf - Accepted Manuscript
Download (14kB)

More information

Published date: April 2015
Organisations: Physics & Astronomy

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 376071
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/376071
ISSN: 0148-0227
PURE UUID: 0ee70c3b-1cbf-4334-8ae2-6f3d96500d47
ORCID for C.M. Jackman: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0635-7361
ORCID for A.W. Smith: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7321-4331

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 14 Apr 2015 11:59
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 19:37

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: C.M. Jackman ORCID iD
Author: M.F. Thomsen
Author: D.G. Mitchell
Author: N. Sergis
Author: C.S. Arridge
Author: M. Felici
Author: S.V. Badman
Author: C. Paranicas
Author: X. Jia
Author: G.B. Hospodarksy
Author: M. Andriopoulou
Author: K.K. Khurana
Author: A.W. Smith ORCID iD
Author: M.K. Dougherty

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×