Premium
Extended Survey of Saturn Z‐Mode Wave Intensity Through Cassini's Final Orbits
Author(s) -
Menietti J. D.,
Averkamp T. F.,
Ye S.Y.,
Persoon A. M.,
Morooka M. W.,
Groene J. B.,
Kurth W. S.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl079287
Subject(s) - physics , intensity (physics) , saturn , polarization (electrochemistry) , computational physics , electron , mode (computer interface) , astrophysics , optics , planet , chemistry , quantum mechanics , computer science , operating system
Similar to whistler mode chorus, Z‐mode emission is an efficient diffusive scatterer of electrons possibly resulting in resonant acceleration. We present results of a survey of both the low‐band (5 kHz) and for the first time the high‐band (20 kHz) intensity of these emissions, based on over 11 years of Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science instrument data including nine ring‐grazing orbits and two proximal orbits, which occurred at the end of the mission. We distinguish these emissions using density and polarization measurements and calculate the mean intensity as a function of frequency and spatial coordinates. We find that the average low‐band Z‐mode intensity peak is P 0 ~7 × 10 −8 nT 2 , while the high‐band peak is much lower at P 0 ~10 −9 nT 2 . The spatial distribution of intensity differs for each emission band implying different source regions and perhaps different source mechanisms.