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Warping of Saturn's magnetospheric and magnetotail current sheets
Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Dorking, UK
Centre for Planetary Sciences, University College London, London, UK
Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
European Space Agency, Paris, France
Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK
Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, University College London, London, UK
Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK
Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Dorking, UK
Centre for Planetary Sciences, University College London, London, UK
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA
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.
Received 11 December 2007; accepted 30 May 2008; published 15 August 2008.
Citation: (2008), Warping of Saturn's magnetospheric and magnetotail current sheets, J. Geophys. Res., 113, A08217, doi:10.1029/2007JA012963.
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