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The Meridional Magnetic Field Lines of Saturn
Author(s) -
Carbary J. F.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: space physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-9402
pISSN - 2169-9380
DOI - 10.1029/2018ja025628
Subject(s) - magnetosphere , field line , magnetosphere of saturn , physics , magnetopause , geophysics , equator , solar wind , mercury's magnetic field , northern hemisphere , l shell , magnetic field , saturn , field (mathematics) , latitude , interplanetary magnetic field , astrophysics , astronomy , earth's magnetic field , planet , mathematics , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics
The magnetometer data for the Cassini mission (2004–2016) are used to derive a model of Saturn's meridional magnetic field lines. Using a bin map of the B ρ and B z field components, the field lines can be traced from the equator to high latitudes in the inner magnetosphere. The traces reveal a magnetic field greatly compressed on the dayside and highly elongated on the nightside, which are presumably the effects of solar wind compression and viscous flow around the magnetosphere. A model of the traced field lines can accommodate this day‐night asymmetry and offer a way to connect various places in the magnetosphere. This model can be adjusted for magnetodisk warping by using solar latitude. The field line traces can be mapped down to the ionosphere using an offset dipole. The dayside magnetopause ( L = 21) is mapped to colatitudes of ~13° in the north and ~16° in the south, while for L > 25 on the nightside, the mapped field lines approach asymptotic limits of ~16° in the north and ~18° in the south.