Saturn's elusive nightside polar arc
Saturn's elusive nightside polar arc
Nightside polar arcs are some of the most puzzling auroral emissions at Earth. They are features which extend from the nightside auroral oval into the open magnetic field line region (polar cap), and they represent optical signatures of magnetotail dynamics. Here we report the first observation of an arc at Saturn, which is attached at the nightside main oval and extends into the polar cap region, resembling a terrestrial transpolar arc. We show that Earth-like polar arcs can exceptionally occur in a fast rotational and internally influenced magnetosphere such as Saturn's. Finally, we discuss the possibility that the polar arc at Saturn is related to tail reconnection and we address the role of solar wind in the magnetotail dynamics at Saturn.
6321-6328
Radioti, A.
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Grodent, D.
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Gérard, J.-C.
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Milan, S.E.
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Fear, R.C.
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Jackman, C.M.
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Bonfond, B.
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Pryor, W.
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24 September 2014
Radioti, A.
0451be9e-9800-44fb-bb31-abb5fe00958a
Grodent, D.
a8973000-3a4b-4481-8509-919933aa0a32
Gérard, J.-C.
d0fbbdb4-16cd-4f55-869e-e16992111809
Milan, S.E.
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Fear, R.C.
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Jackman, C.M.
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Bonfond, B.
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Pryor, W.
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Radioti, A., Grodent, D., Gérard, J.-C., Milan, S.E., Fear, R.C., Jackman, C.M., Bonfond, B. and Pryor, W.
(2014)
Saturn's elusive nightside polar arc.
Geophysical Research Letters, 41 (18), .
(doi:10.1002/2014GL061081).
Abstract
Nightside polar arcs are some of the most puzzling auroral emissions at Earth. They are features which extend from the nightside auroral oval into the open magnetic field line region (polar cap), and they represent optical signatures of magnetotail dynamics. Here we report the first observation of an arc at Saturn, which is attached at the nightside main oval and extends into the polar cap region, resembling a terrestrial transpolar arc. We show that Earth-like polar arcs can exceptionally occur in a fast rotational and internally influenced magnetosphere such as Saturn's. Finally, we discuss the possibility that the polar arc at Saturn is related to tail reconnection and we address the role of solar wind in the magnetotail dynamics at Saturn.
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Radioti_et_al-2014-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf
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Accepted/In Press date: 8 September 2014
Published date: 24 September 2014
Organisations:
Astronomy Group
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Local EPrints ID: 394168
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/394168
ISSN: 0094-8276
PURE UUID: 8777d0a7-3c68-420f-9695-d030c800691e
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Date deposited: 12 May 2016 10:46
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:49
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Author:
A. Radioti
Author:
D. Grodent
Author:
J.-C. Gérard
Author:
S.E. Milan
Author:
B. Bonfond
Author:
W. Pryor
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