EGU22-8592, updated on 11 Dec 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8592
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Conductivities of Titan's dusty ionosphere

Oleg Shebanits1, Jan-Erik Wahlund1, Hunter Waite2, and Michele Dougherty3
Oleg Shebanits et al.
  • 1Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden
  • 2Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, USA
  • 3Imperial College London, London, UK

Titan’s ionosphere, host to a global dusty (ion-ion) plasma, provides a unique environment for studies of dusty ionospheres, featuring one of the largest dusty plasma datasets from 126 flybys of the moon over 13 years. Recent studies have shown the charged dust to have a large impact on the electric properties of plasmas, in particular planetary ionospheres. Here we use in-situ data to derive the electric conductivities and define the conductive dynamo region at Titan.

Our results show that using the full plasma content increases the Pedersen conductivities at ~1100-1200 km altitude by up to 35% compared to only using electrons. The Hall conductivities are not consistently affected but several cases indicate a reverse Hall effect at 900 km altitude (closest approach) and below. We also discuss day-night differences, solar activity impact and compare to similar environments.

How to cite: Shebanits, O., Wahlund, J.-E., Waite, H., and Dougherty, M.: Conductivities of Titan's dusty ionosphere, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-8592, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-8592, 2022.

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