Identifying ionospheric shadowing signatures of ringlets and plateaus in Saturn's C Ring
- 1Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Space Plasma Physics, Uppsala, Sweden (joshua.dreyer@irfu.se)
- 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- 3Space Science and Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, USA
During the Grand Finale of the Cassini mission, the southern hemisphere of Saturn was shadowed by its rings and the substructures within, whose more intense shadows can be mapped to specific ionospheric altitudes. We successfully connect small-scale variations (dips) in the ionospheric H2+ density below 2500 km, measured by the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) during orbits 288 and 292, to the shadows of individual ringlets and plateaus in the C Ring. From the H2+ density signatures we estimate lower limits of the associated ringlet or plateau opacities. These will be compared with results obtained from stellar occultations. Potential implications/constraints on the ionospheric dynamics will be discussed. The ringlet and plateau shadows are not associated with obvious dips in the electron density.
How to cite: Dreyer, J., Vigren, E., Shebanits, O., Morooka, M., Wahlund, J.-E., and Waite, J. H.: Identifying ionospheric shadowing signatures of ringlets and plateaus in Saturn's C Ring, European Planetary Science Congress 2021, online, 13–24 Sep 2021, EPSC2021-753, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc2021-753, 2021.
