Imperial College London
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DrAdamMasters

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Physics

Senior Lecturer
 
 
 
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Contact

 

a.masters

 
 
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Location

 

6M69Huxley BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Staniland:2020:10.1029/2020JA027794,
author = {Staniland, N and Dougherty, M and Masters, A and Bunce, E},
doi = {10.1029/2020JA027794},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics},
pages = {1--15},
title = {Determining the nominal thickness and variability of the magnetodisc current sheet at saturn},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020JA027794},
volume = {125},
year = {2020}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The thickness and variability of the Saturnian magnetodisc current sheet is investigated using the Cassini magnetometer data set. Cassini performed 66 fast, steep crossings of the equatorial current sheet where a clear signature in the magnetic field data allowed for a direct determination of its thickness and the offset of its center. The average, or nominal, current sheet halfthickness is 1.3 R S , where R S is the equatorial radius of Saturn, equal to 60,268 km. This is thinner than previously calculated, but both spatial and temporal dependencies are identified. The current sheet is thicker and more variable by a factor ∼2 on the nightside compared to the dayside, ranging from 0.5–3 R S . The current sheet is on average 50% thicker in the nightside quasidipolar region (≤15 R S ) compared to the dayside. These results are consistent with the presence of a noonmidnight electric field at Saturn that produces a hotter plasma population on the nightside compared to the dayside. It is also shown that the current sheet becomes significantly thinner in the outer region of the nightside, while staying approximately constant with radial distance on the dayside, reflecting the dayside compression of the magnetosphere by the solar wind. Some of the variability is well characterized by the planetary period oscillations (PPOs). However, we also find evidence for nonPPO drivers of variability.
AU  - Staniland,N
AU  - Dougherty,M
AU  - Masters,A
AU  - Bunce,E
DO  - 10.1029/2020JA027794
EP  - 15
PY  - 2020///
SN  - 2169-9380
SP  - 1
TI  - Determining the nominal thickness and variability of the magnetodisc current sheet at saturn
T2  - Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2020JA027794
UR  - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020JA027794
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/79381
VL  - 125
ER  -
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