Composition of Upstream Flow for Titan's Interaction with Saturn's Magnetosphere during T9 Flyby

SITTLER, E. C.; HARTLE, R. E.; LIPATOV, A.; BERTUCCI, C.; COATES, A.; SZEGO, K.; SHAPPIRIO, M.; SIMPSON, D. G.

Congreso; AGU Spring Meeting 2008; 2008

As described in Bertucci et al. [2007] Saturn's magnetic field is stretched out into a magnetodisk configuration where the field is confined near the equatorial plane with Titan below the current sheet. As discussed in Maurice et al. [1996] for Jupiter's outer magnetosphere where magnetodisk configuration applies the heavy ions are confined within 2 deg of the current sheet and at higher latitudes protons dominate. We show compositional evidence from the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) Ion Mass Spectrometer (IMS) that protons dominate the ion composition for the upstream flow, while in pickup region H2+ and protons dominate. If true, then we expect a far different interaction between Saturn's magnetosphere and Titan's upper atmosphere and exosphere, where heavy ions are essentially absent. 1.0 Bertucci, C., et al., GRL, Vol. 34, L24S02, 2007. 2.0 Maurice, S., et al., PSS, Vol. 45, No. 11, 1449-1465, 1997.