Global MHD studies of Titan's interaction

NAGY, A. F.; MA, Y.; RUSSELL, C. T.; CRAVENS, T. E.; NEUBAUER, F. M.; BERTUCCI, C.; DOUGHERTY, M. K.; COATES, A. J.; WAHLUND, J.; CRARY, F. J.

Congreso; AGU Fall Meeting 2007; 2007

Cassini Spacecraft made a recent pass of Titan on June 13, 2007 when Titan was located at 13.6 SLT. This flyby, referred to as T32 flyby, is the first occasion that Titan was observed to be outside Saturn's magnetopause. In this presentation, we will study Titan's ionospheric responses to such a sudden change in the upstream plasma flow, using a sophisticated multi-species global MHD model. In addition, simulation results of another flyby of Titan, T34 flyby, will also be presented and compared with Cassini observations. During this T34 flyby, the Cassini spacecraft passed the upstream region of Titan in the equatorial plane, provided important constraints for Titan's ionosphere. Moreover, Titan's ionospheric diffusion time is discussed based on both observations and simulation results.