Recent Advances in the Understanding of the Structure and Variability of Titan's Magnetic Environment

BERTUCCI, C.; SZEGO, K.; COATES, A.; WAHLUND, J. E.; LAW, A.; ARRIDGE, C. S.; NEUBAUER, F. M.; RUSSELL, C. T.; WEI, H. Y.; DOUGHERTY, M. K.; YOUNG, D. T.; KURTH, W.

Congreso; AGU Fall Meeting 2006; 2006

The magnetic field and plasma measurements obtained by Cassini in the latest flybys show that Titan's interaction with Saturn's magnetosphere is more complex than initially thought. In this work, we analyze Cassini magnetometer data to further investigate the structure and the variability of this interaction and we use simultaneous plasma measurements to support the identification of different regions and physical processes. We find that in addition to the difference between the EUV flux and the magnetospheric flow directions, the proximity of Saturn's magnetodisk strongly affects upstream conditions such as the background magnetic field, the plasma density, temperature, the convective electric field, and possibly the incoming plasma flow direction. In addition, an analysis of flybys at similar Saturn local times reveals regions of weak and strong magnetic field draping. This suggests the presence of an outer weak (or light) and an inner strong (or heavy) massloading region respectively, the latter bearing strong similarities with the magnetic pileup region/plasma mantle at objects like comets, Mars and Venus.