A comprehensive analysis of ion cyclotron waves in the equatorial magnetosphere of Saturn

• Published in: Planetary and space science 2016-09, Vol.129, p.47-60
• Main Authors: Meeks, Zachary, Simon, Sven, Kabanovic, Slawa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amplitudes; Cassini; Cassini mission; Cyclotrons; Dione; Enceladus; Flyby missions; Icy moons of Saturn; Ion cyclotron waves; Magnetospheres; Orbitals; Saturn's magnetosphere
• ISSN: 0032-0633; 1873-5088
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2016.06.003

We present a comprehensive analysis of ion cyclotron waves in the equatorial magnetosphere of Saturn, considering all magnetic field data collected during the Cassini era (totaling to over 4 years of data from the equatorial plane). This dataset includes eight targeted flybys of Enceladus, three targeted flybys of Dione, and three targeted flybys of Rhea. Because all remaining orbits of Cassini are high-inclination, our study provides the complete map of ion cyclotron waves in Saturn's equatorial magnetosphere during the Cassini era. We provide catalogs of the radial and longitudinal dependencies of the occurrence rate and amplitude of the ion cyclotron fundamental and first harmonic wave modes. The fundamental wave mode is omnipresent between the orbits of Enceladus and Dione and evenly distributed across all Local Times. The occurrence rate of the fundamental mode displays a Fermi–Dirac-like profile with respect to radial distance from Saturn. Detection of the first harmonic mode is a rare event occurring in only 0.49% of measurements taken and always in conjunction with the fundamental mode. We also search for a dependency of the ion cyclotron wave field on the orbital positions of the icy moons Enceladus, Dione, and Rhea. On magnetospheric length scales, the wave field is independent of the moons' orbital positions. For Enceladus, we analyze wave amplitude profiles of seven close flybys (E9, E12, E13, E14, E17, E18, and E19), which occurred during the studied trajectory segments, to look for any local effects of Enceladan plume variability on the wave field. We find that even in the close vicinity of Enceladus, the wave amplitudes display no discernible dependency on Enceladus' angular distance to its orbital apocenter. Thus, the correlation between plume activity and angular distance to apocenter proposed by Hedman et al. (2013) does not leave a clearly distinguishable imprint in the ion cyclotron wave field. •Ion cyclotron wave occurrence rate profile.•First harmonic mode of the ion cyclotron wave.•Ion cyclotron wave amplitude profile.•Estimation of ion production rate.•Effect of Enceladus, Dione, and Rhea on ion cyclotron wave field.