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| Titel |
Modelling the Forces in Saturn's Warped Magnetodisc |
| VerfasserIn |
N. Achilleos, C. S. Arridge, P. Guio |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2012
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 14 (2012) |
| Datensatznummer |
250066322
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Observations from the Cassini spacecraft have established that Saturn’s outer magnetospheric
current sheet does not generally lie in the planet’s rotational equatorial plane. Previous
analyses have revealed that the current sheet adopted a ‘bowl-like’ shape, swept northwards
of the equator, during the Cassini prime mission (southern summer solstice). In order to
quantify the relationship between solar wind dynamic pressure, planetary dipole tilt, and the
shape of the near-noon current sheet, we examine a simple model of magnetopause
currents within systems where the planetary dipole / rotation axis is oriented at ~65
degrees (solstice) and 90 degrees (equinox) to the upstream flow direction of the
solar wind. We use this simple model to compute the ‘shielding field’ for the UCL
Magnetodisc Model. We show model predictions of the north-south asymmetry
in the current sheet for varying dipole orientations and magnetopause sizes. We
comment on the potential application of using observed magnetic signatures of current
sheet displacement (relative to the equator) as an indep endent probe of solar wind
pressure. |
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