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Signatures of field-aligned currents in Saturn's nightside magnetosphere

Talboys, DL; Arridge, CS; Bunce, EJ; Coates, AJ; Cowley, SWH; Dougherty, MK; Khurana, KK; (2009) Signatures of field-aligned currents in Saturn's nightside magnetosphere. Geophysical Research Letters , 36 , Article L19107. 10.1029/2009GL039867. Green open access

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Abstract

We report first results of a survey of near-simultaneous and near-conjugate magnetic field perturbations observed over Saturn's northern and southern nightside auroral regions on similar to 40 periapsis passes of the Cassini spacecraft during 2008. Structured azimuthal fields that are generally anti-symmetric north and south were observed at auroral latitudes on all passes, indicative of the signatures of field-aligned currents associated with magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. Two basic field patterns are discerned. One is associated exclusively with 'lagging' fields on high-latitude field lines in both hemispheres, while the other includes a transition from 'lagging' to 'leading' fields with decreasing latitude in both hemispheres. The principal field-aligned currents are found to span the region of the open-closed field line boundary and the outer magnetosphere/ring current, with the region of upward current, potentially associated with ionospheric auroral emissions, usually being located on closed field lines just equatorward of the boundary.

Type: Article
Title: Signatures of field-aligned currents in Saturn's nightside magnetosphere
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1029/2009GL039867
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009GL039867
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union
Keywords: Saturn, Field-aligned currents, Aurora
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/135407
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