Cassini observations of ULF waves during the TA Titan flyby

RUSSELL, C. T.; NEUBAUER, F. M.; DOUGHERTY, M.; LEISNER, J. S.; BERTUCCI, C.; TSURUTANI, B. T.

Congreso; AGU Fall Meeting 2004; 2004

ULF waves are effective in dissipating free energy produced in the plasma during the flow of plasma past bodies with atmospheres and they provide diagnostics of the processes taking place. At Io in the jovian magnetosphere strong ion cyclotron waves were observed by Galileo but during the Voyager encounter with Titan at Saturn no clear ion cyclotron waves were seen. During the TA encounter we will attempt to detect ion cyclotron waves to assess the rate of loss of atmosphere from Titan through ion pickup. If present, we can use the amplitude and spatial extent of these waves to assess the role of fast neutrals in contributing to the loss process, contrasting the interaction with that of Io. Finally, we examine the nature of waves across the full frequency spectrum to determine the power spectral density and nature of all waves generated in the interaction.