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Reconnection events in Saturn's magnetotail: dependence of plasmoid occurrence on planetary period oscillation phase

Reconnection events in Saturn's magnetotail: dependence of plasmoid occurrence on planetary period oscillation phase
Reconnection events in Saturn's magnetotail: dependence of plasmoid occurrence on planetary period oscillation phase
During its exploration of Saturn's magnetotail the Cassini magnetometer has detected many in situ examples of magnetic reconnection, in the form of plasmoids, traveling compression regions (TCRs), and dipolarizations. Meanwhile, many magnetospheric phenomena have been shown to be organized with particular regularity by planetary period oscillation systems driven separately from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the planet. Here we examine the relationship between the occurrence of plasmoids and TCRs and the magnetic phases of the northern and southern systems. We find a striking degree of organization of the events by both northern and southern phases, with events linked preferentially to intervals in which the magnetospheric plasma and field lines are displaced outward from the planet and the current sheet thinned, both effects being likely to favor the occurrence of reconnection and plasmoid-related mass loss. Little evidence is found for significant visibility effects associated with north-south motions of the plasma sheet.
2169-9380
1-13
Jackman, C.M.
9bc3456c-b254-48f1-ade0-912c5b8b4529
Provan, G
5de9f25e-ab6f-4c99-aeec-e45394a48a6b
Cowley, S
bc1f9253-a6ef-4863-a353-a2e4e658f127
Jackman, C.M.
9bc3456c-b254-48f1-ade0-912c5b8b4529
Provan, G
5de9f25e-ab6f-4c99-aeec-e45394a48a6b
Cowley, S
bc1f9253-a6ef-4863-a353-a2e4e658f127

Jackman, C.M., Provan, G and Cowley, S (2016) Reconnection events in Saturn's magnetotail: dependence of plasmoid occurrence on planetary period oscillation phase. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 1-13. (doi:10.1002/2015JA021985).

Record type: Article

Abstract

During its exploration of Saturn's magnetotail the Cassini magnetometer has detected many in situ examples of magnetic reconnection, in the form of plasmoids, traveling compression regions (TCRs), and dipolarizations. Meanwhile, many magnetospheric phenomena have been shown to be organized with particular regularity by planetary period oscillation systems driven separately from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the planet. Here we examine the relationship between the occurrence of plasmoids and TCRs and the magnetic phases of the northern and southern systems. We find a striking degree of organization of the events by both northern and southern phases, with events linked preferentially to intervals in which the magnetospheric plasma and field lines are displaced outward from the planet and the current sheet thinned, both effects being likely to favor the occurrence of reconnection and plasmoid-related mass loss. Little evidence is found for significant visibility effects associated with north-south motions of the plasma sheet.

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Accepted/In Press date: 2 February 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 February 2016
Published date: 6 April 2016
Organisations: Astronomy Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 391973
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/391973
ISSN: 2169-9380
PURE UUID: 45d680cd-e649-4e22-88fa-81a60ca6b4a2
ORCID for C.M. Jackman: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0635-7361

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Date deposited: 13 Apr 2016 13:48
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 23:33

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Contributors

Author: C.M. Jackman ORCID iD
Author: G Provan
Author: S Cowley

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