Properties of local plasma injections in Saturn's magnetosphere

James L. Burch , J. Goldstein , T. W. Hill , D. T. Young , F. J. Crary , A. J. Coates , N. André (1) , W. S. Kurth , E. C. Sittler

1 CESR - Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements

Electron and ion drift dispersion events are often observed by the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) in the inner magnetosphere of Saturn (5 to 10 R S). These events appear to result from azimuthally-limited injections of plasma and persist for at least several hours. During this time, the events can be analyzed to obtain information on the time and azimuthal location of the injections. The CAPS data show evidence of both remote and local injections. In this paper a conceptual model of Saturnian centrifugal interchange is developed based on the characteristics of the local injections.

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]; Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]

James L. Burch, J. Goldstein, T. W. Hill, D. T. Young, F. J. Crary, et al.. Properties of local plasma injections in Saturn's magnetosphere. Geophysical Research Letters, 2005, Cassini, special issue. ⟨10.1029/2005GL022611⟩. ⟨hal-00013060⟩