Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
Bifurcations of the main auroral ring at Saturn: ionospheric signatures of consecutive reconnection events at the magnetopause
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
Bifurcations of the main auroral ring at Saturn: ionospheric signatures of consecutive reconnection events at the magnetopause
Do you wish to request the book?
Bifurcations of the main auroral ring at Saturn: ionospheric signatures of consecutive reconnection events at the magnetopause
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
Bifurcations of the main auroral ring at Saturn: ionospheric signatures of consecutive reconnection events at the magnetopause
2011
Overview
This work reports for the first time on bifurcations of the main auroral ring at Saturn observed with the UVIS instrument onboard Cassini. The observation sequence starts with an intensification on the main oval, close to noon, which is possibly associated with dayside reconnection. Consecutive bifurcations appear with the onset of dayside reconnection, between 11 and 18 magnetic local time, while the area poleward of the main emission expands to lower latitudes. The bifurcations depart with time from the main ring of emission, which is related to the open‐closed field line boundary. The augmentation of the area poleward of the main emission following its expansion is balanced by the area occupied by the bifurcations, suggesting that these auroral features represent the amount of newly open flux and could be related to consecutive reconnection events at the flank of the magnetopause. The observations show that the open flux along the sequence increases when bifurcations appear. Magnetopause reconnection can lead to significant augmentation of the open flux within a couple of days and each reconnection event opens ∼10% of the flux contained within the polar cap. Additionally, the observations imply an overall length of the reconnection line of ∼4 hours of local time and suggest that dayside reconnection at Saturn can occur at several positions on the magnetopause consecutively or simultaneously. Key Points First observations on bifurcations of the main auroral ring at Saturn The bifurcations could be the ionospheric signature of reconnection events The auroral bifurcations represent the amount of newly open flux
Publisher
Blackwell Publishing Ltd,American Geophysical Union (AGU)
