Discovery of Alfven waves planetward of Saturn's rings
File(s)2020JA028473.pdf (2.4 MB)
Published version
OA Location
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Between April and September 2017 in the final stages of the Cassini Saturn Orbiter mission the spacecraft executed 22 orbits passing planetward of the innermost ring, the D-ring. During all periapsis passes oscillations were detected in the azimuthal magnetic field components on typical time scales of a few minutes. We argue that these time-varying magnetic signals detected on the spacecraft are also primarily time-varying in the plasma frame. Furthermore, we show that nearly all signals exhibit a spatial feature, namely a magnetic node near the effective field line equator. We propose that the oscillations are associated with Alfvén waves excited in local field line resonances, most likely driven from global sources.
Date Issued
2021-02-01
Date Acceptance
2020-11-21
Citation
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 2021, 126 (2), pp.1-18
ISSN
2169-9380
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Start Page
1
End Page
18
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
Volume
126
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© 2020. The Authors.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000627265100012&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
ST/N000692/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Alfven waves
D‐
ring
Saturn magnetosphere
FIELD-LINE RESONANCES
MHD EIGENMODES
ULF WAVES
CAVITY
MODES
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN e2020JA028473
Date Publish Online
2020-12-15