Ion winds in Saturn's southern auroral/polar region

Tom S. Stallard*, Steve Miller, Laurence M. Trafton, Thomas R. Geballe, Robert D. Joseph

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

61 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present profiles of the line-of-sight (l.o.s.) ionospheric wind velocities in the southern auroral/polar region of Saturn. Our velocities are derived from the measurement of Doppler shifting of the H3+ ν2Q(1,0−) line at 3.953 microns. The data for this study were obtained using the facility high-resolution spectrometer CSHELL on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, during the night of February 6, 2003 (UT). The l.o.s. velocity profiles finally derived are consistent with an extended region of the upper atmosphere sub-corotating with the planet: the ion velocities in the inertial reference are only 1/3 of those expected for full planetary corotation. We discuss the results in the light of recent proposals for the kronian magnetosphere, and suggest that, in this region, Saturn's ion winds may be under solar wind control.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)204-211
Number of pages8
JournalIcarus
Volume157
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2004
Externally publishedYes

Cite this