Warping of Saturn's magnetospheric and magnetotail current sheets
Warping of Saturn's magnetospheric and magnetotail current sheets
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DOI：
10.1029/2007ja012963
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发表时间：
2008-08
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
C. Arridge;K. Khurana;C. Russell;D. Southwood;N. Achilleos;M. Dougherty;A. Coates;H. Leinweber
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
C. Arridge;K. Khurana;C. Russell;D. Southwood;N. Achilleos;M. Dougherty;A. Coates;H. Leinweber
[1]众所周知，木星和地球的磁尾是铰接的，因此它们的方向在小距离时由行星的磁场控制，而在大距离时则渐近地接近太阳风的流动方向。在本文中，我们提出的卡西尼观测表明，土星的磁层也同样铰链。此外，我们发现，土星的磁层不仅是铰链在尾巴，但也在昼侧，在木星和地球的磁层形成对比。在当地时间的午夜、黎明和中午，我们发现电流片在土星的旋转赤道上方移动，因此电流片呈碗状或盆状。我们提出了一个模型来描述扭曲的电流片的几何形状，并表明，为了正确地描述磁场中的磁层，这个铰链必须纳入。我们讨论了在土星的赤道平面等离子体观测的影响，土卫六的磁层相互作用的影响，和平均电流片结构的周期性的效果。
[1] The magnetotails of Jupiter and Earth are known to be hinged so that their orientation is controlled by the magnetic field of the planet at small distances and asymptotically approach the direction of the flow of the solar wind at large distances. In this paper we present Cassini observations showing that Saturn's magnetosphere is also similarly hinged. Furthermore, we find that Saturn's magnetosphere is not only hinged in the tail but also on the dayside, in contrast to the Jovian and terrestrial magnetospheres. Over the midnight, dawn, and noon local time sectors we find that the current sheet is displaced above Saturn's rotational equator, and thus the current sheet adopts the shape of a bowl or basin. We present a model to describe the warped current sheet geometry and show that in order to properly describe the magnetic field in the magnetosphere, this hinging must be incorporated. We discuss the impact on plasma observations made in Saturn's equatorial plane, the influence on Titan's magnetospheric interaction, and the effect of periodicities on the mean current sheet structure.