Home » Teng et al. 2025

Quasi-Periodic Emissions in Saturn's Magnetosphere and Their Effects on Electrons

Teng S., D. Wang, A. Y. Drozdov, Y. Y. Shprits, Z. Wu, Y. X. Hao, Z. Yao, J. Zhang, (2025), Quasi-Periodic Emissions in Saturn’s Magnetosphere and Their Effects on Electrons, Geophysical Research Letters, 52, e2024GL112061, doi:10.1029/2024GL112061, e2024GL112061 2024GL112061

Abstract

Abstract Investigations into quasiperiodic (QP) whistler mode emissions within Saturn's magnetosphere have uncovered distinctive characteristics of these emissions, which display a nearly periodic rising tone structure in the wave spectrogram, characterized by modulation periods of several minutes. These QP emissions are predominantly observed at low L-shells around 5 and near the magnetic equator. Utilizing a quasi-linear analysis framework, we evaluate the effects of these waves on the dynamics of energetic electrons. Our analysis suggests that these QP emissions can efficiently cause the loss of electrons within the energy range from 10 to 60 keV over a timescale of tens of minutes. By incorporating these findings into Fokker-Planck simulations, we find minimal acceleration effects. This study is the first to examine QP emissions and their implications for energetic electron dynamics in Saturn's magnetosphere, highlighting their potentially significant contribution to the magnetospheric processes and dynamics.

Authors (sorted by name)

Drozdov Hao Shprits Teng Wang Wu Yao Zhang

Journal / Conference

Geophysical Research Letters

Grants

80NSSC21K0534

Bibtex

@article{https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112061,
author = {Teng, S. and Wang, Dedong and Drozdov, Alexander Y. and Shprits, Yuri Y. and Wu, Zeyin and Hao, Y. X. and Yao, Z. and Zhang, J.},
title = {Quasi-Periodic Emissions in Saturn's Magnetosphere and Their Effects on Electrons},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
volume = {52},
number = {1},
pages = {e2024GL112061},
keywords = {whistler mode emissions, saturn, electron loss},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112061},
url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2024GL112061},
eprint = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2024GL112061},
note = {e2024GL112061 2024GL112061},
abstract = {Abstract Investigations into quasiperiodic (QP) whistler mode emissions within Saturn's magnetosphere have uncovered distinctive characteristics of these emissions, which display a nearly periodic rising tone structure in the wave spectrogram, characterized by modulation periods of several minutes. These QP emissions are predominantly observed at low L-shells around 5 and near the magnetic equator. Utilizing a quasi-linear analysis framework, we evaluate the effects of these waves on the dynamics of energetic electrons. Our analysis suggests that these QP emissions can efficiently cause the loss of electrons within the energy range from 10 to 60 keV over a timescale of tens of minutes. By incorporating these findings into Fokker-Planck simulations, we find minimal acceleration effects. This study is the first to examine QP emissions and their implications for energetic electron dynamics in Saturn's magnetosphere, highlighting their potentially significant contribution to the magnetospheric processes and dynamics.},
year = {2025}
}