Abigail Rymer
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
The low energy Cassini electron spectrometer: An introduction and how it can help to explore plasma transport at Saturn
There is considerable interest in plasma transport mechanisms into and out of the corotation dominated inner magnetosphere of Saturn. Analysis of CAssini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) data shows that there commonly exist two approximately Maxwellian super-posed electron populations in the roughly equatorial region between L ~ 5-12 Rs. This region is also where electron injection events and resultant dispersion signatures are often observed. Notable other examples of bimodal electron populations are those found in the solar wind, the Io torus, and (on typically small temporal and spatial scales) in boundary layers such at planetary magnetopauses and lobes. These will be introduced and discussed in the context of Cassini-ELS measurements and plasma transport at Saturn.