This chapter summarizes our current understanding of the ionosphere of Saturn. We give an overview of Saturn ionospheric science from the Voyager era to the present, with a focus on the wealth of new data and discoveries enabled by Cassini, including a massive increase in the number of electron density altitude profiles. We discuss recent ground-based detection of the effect of "ring rain" on Saturn's ionosphere, and present possible model interpretations of the observations. Finally, we outline current model-data discrepancies and indicate how future observations can help in advancing our understanding of the various controlling physical and chemical processes.
@article{arxiv.1701.05178,
title = {Saturn's Ionosphere},
author = {Luke Moore and Marina Galand and Arvydas J. Kliore and Andrew F. Nagy and James O'Donoghue},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1701.05178},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
34 pages, 17 figures, Chapter 8 of a forthcoming multi-volume work entitled "Saturn in the 21st Century"