HR: 16:30h
AN: SA24A-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Developments of STIM, the Saturn Thermosphere Ionosphere Model
AU: * Aylward, A D
EM: A.Aylward@ucl.ac.uk
AF: University College London, Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, 67-73 Riding House Street,, London, W1W 7EJ United Kingdom
AU: Smith, C G
EM: chriss@apl.ucl.ac.uk
AF: University College London, Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, 67-73 Riding House Street,, London, W1W 7EJ United Kingdom
AU: Miller, S
EM: S.Miller@ucl.ac.uk
AF: University College London, Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, 67-73 Riding House Street,, London, W1W 7EJ United Kingdom
AU: Millward, G
EM: george@apl.ucl.ac.uk
AF: University College London, Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, 67-73 Riding House Street,, London, W1W 7EJ United Kingdom
AB: The STIM (Saturn Thermosphere Ionosphere Model) model is a joint venture betwen University College London, Imperial College London, Boston University and the University of Arizona to develop a 3-d global circulation model of the Saturnian system - the primary aim being to use this as a tool for interpretation and testing of Cassini data. After initial work producing a basic thermosphere model (Muller-Wodarg et al 2005), examining issues to do with the ionosphere (Moore et al 2005) and examining auroral heating effects (Smith et al 2005), a global coupled ionosphere-plasmasphere has been added to the model. At low latitudes the model calculates ion densities on closed flux tubes passing through the ring plane. At high latitudes it performs self-consistent calculations of Joule heating and ion drag based on the calculated thermospheric and ionospheric parameters. The plasmasphere is complicated for Saturn by the strength of the centrifugal force which can dominate the forces in the outer flux tubes. Studies initially used H+ and H3+ as the principle ions but for the future it will be necessary to look at the consequences of the rings supplying OH or oxygen from ring ice particles. The high-latitude morphology is being refined as Cassini data constrains it. Long-term plans for the STIM development will be discussed.
DE: 0355 Thermosphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 2459 Planetary ionospheres (5435, 5729, 6026, 6027, 6028)
DE: 3367 Theoretical modeling
DE: 5707 Atmospheres--structure and dynamics
DE: 6275 Saturn
SC: SPA-Aeronomy [SA]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly