On the ionospheric structure of Titan

K. Ågren (1, 2) , J.-E. Wahlund (1) , P. Garnier (1) , Ronan Modolo (1, 3) , J. Cui (4) , M. Galand (4) , I. Müller-Wodarg (4)

1 IRF - Swedish Institute of Space Physics [Uppsala / Kiruna]
2 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Uppsala]
3 HELIOS - LATMOS
4 Space and Atmospheric Physics Group [London]

In this study we present data from 17 Titan flybys showing that solar photons are the main ionisation source of Titan's dayside atmosphere. This is the first comprehensive study of Solar Zenith Angle (SZA) dependence of the electron number density and electron temperature at the ionospheric peak.

Mots clés: Titan; Ionospheric physics; Ionosphere-magnetosphere interaction; Cassini; SZA

Domaines: Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]; Planétologie et astrophysique de la terre [astro-ph.EP]; Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]

K. Ågren, J.-E. Wahlund, P. Garnier, Ronan Modolo, J. Cui, et al.. On the ionospheric structure of Titan. Planetary and Space Science, 2009, 57 (14-15), pp.1821-1827. ⟨10.1016/j.pss.2009.04.012⟩. ⟨hal-00381598⟩