HR: 0800h
AN: P31A-0194    [Abstracts]
TI: Periodic crossings of Saturn's magnetospheric current/plasma sheet observed by Cassini CAPS/ELS and MAG
AU: * Arridge, C S
EM: chris.arridge@physics.org
AF: Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Department of Space and Climate Physics, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, RH5 6NT, United Kingdom
AU: Khurana, K K
EM: kkhurana@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Slichter Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
AU: Russell, C T
EM: ctrussel@igpp.ucla.edu
AF: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, Slichter Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
AU: Sittler, E C
EM: Edward.C.Sittler@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AU: Andre, N
EM: nandre@rssd.esa.int
AF: Research and Scientific Support Department, European Space Agency, Keplerlaan 1, Noordwijk, 220, Netherlands
AU: McAndrews, H J
EM: hazelm@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Space Science and Applications (ISR-1), Los Alamos, NM 87545, United States
AU: Coates, A J
EM: ajc@mssl.ucl.ac.uk
AF: Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Department of Space and Climate Physics, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, RH5 6NT, United Kingdom
AU: Dougherty, M K
EM: m.dougherty@ic.ac.uk
AF: Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, SW7 2AZ, United States
AB: Cassini observations in Saturn's magnetotail during 2006 show evidence of periodic encounters with the plasma and current sheet. In this talk we discuss these encounters as observed by the Cassini magnetometer (MAG) and electron spectrometer (ELS). We emphasise that the tail observations can simply be interpreted in terms of periodic vertical oscillations of the sheet, obviating the need for a sub-corotating plume structure as advocated by some authors. Furthermore, many encounters with the sheet are "double-peaked" which can also be simply explained by the vertical oscillation paradigm. We explore these vertical oscillations, consider simple structural models to fit the observations, and compare our results with data from other instruments (e.g., Carbary et al. 2007).
DE: 2740 Magnetospheric configuration and dynamics
DE: 2744 Magnetotail
DE: 2764 Plasma sheet
DE: 5737 Magnetospheres (2756)
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting