Open AccessFirst results from the Cassini radio occultations of the Titan ionosphere
Author(s) -
Kliore Avydas J.,
Nagy Andrew F.,
Marouf Essam A.,
French Richard G.,
Flasar F. Michael,
Rappaport Nicole J.,
Anabttawi Aseel,
Asmar Sami W.,
Kahann Daniel S.,
Barbinis Elias,
Goltz Gene L.,
Fleischman Don U.,
Rochblatt David J.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2007ja012965
Subject(s) - ionosphere , zenith , titan (rocket family) , radio occultation , geology , middle latitudes , polar , latitude , radio science , solar zenith angle , electron density , physics , astronomy , geodesy , atmospheric sciences , geophysics , plasma , quantum mechanics
The first four sets of radio occultations of the Titan's ionosphere were obtained by the Cassini spacecraft between March 2006 and May 2007. These occultations occurred at middle and high latitudes, at solar zenith angles from about 86° to 96°. The main ionospheric peak was seen, as expected from modeling and previous observations, near 1200 km, with a density of about 1–3 × 10 3 cm −3 . A consistent ledge near 1000 km was also seen, and one of the polar observations found a significant (∼3 × 10 3 cm −3 ) layer in the region of 500–600 km. This layer also is seen in other observations with a density varying from about 0.7 to 1.7 × 10 3 cm −3 , suggesting a variable production source (or sources) for this peak.
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