Conductivities of Titan's dusty ionosphere

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.