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Moore et al. 2006
Moore, L., Nagy, A.F., Kliore, A.J., Müller-Wodarg, I., Richardson, J.D. and Mendillo, M. (2006). Cassini radio occultations of Saturn's ionosphere: Model comparisons using a constant water flux. Geophysical Research Letters 33: doi: 10.1029/2006GL027375. issn: 0094-8276.

Recent radio occultations of Saturn's equatorial ionosphere by the Cassini spacecraft provide important insight into this poorly constrained region. Twelve new electron density profiles identify a clear dawn/dusk asymmetry as well as two apparently separate electron density peaks. This study uses a 3D general circulation model along with 1D water diffusion calculations to examine the possibility that a topside flux of neutral water into Saturn's atmosphere may provide a loss mechanism-via charge exchange with protons-that is sufficient to reproduce the ionosphere observed by Cassini. Results indicate that a constant influx of water of (0.5--1.0) ¿ 107 H2O cm-2 sec-1 is adequate for reproducing Cassini measurements, providing a good match to the main electron density peak at dawn and dusk. In addition, these calculations use a reduced rate for the reaction H+ + H2(ν ≥ 4) → H2+ + H, significantly diminishing its importance in Saturn's ionospheric photochemistry.

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Abstract

Keywords
Planetary Sciences, Fluid Planets, Ionospheres, Planetary Sciences, Solar System Objects, Saturn, Radio Science, Ionospheric physics (1240, 2400)
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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