Abstract
The Voyager Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) experiments detected an impulsive (15–400 ms), broadband (20 kHz to 40 MHz) radio emission component that persisted throughout the two Saturn encounter periods1,2. These bursts were grouped into episodes which recurred with a period of about 10 h 10 min, distinctly faster than the saturnian rotation period of 10 h 39.4 min (refs 1–5). This periodicity, coupled with the occurrence dependence on distance from Saturn, led Warwick et al.1 to conclude that the bursts were related to the Saturn system and coined the term SED for Saturn electrostatic discharges. We have analysed these SED episodes paying particular attention to their occurrence in both time and frequency as a function of spacecraft–Saturn geometry during the Voyager 1 encounter. We conclude that the characteristics of SED are best explained by a long-lived atmospheric lightning storm or systems of storms in Saturn's equatorial zone. From our model, we infer the ionospheric electron density near Saturn's noon meridian and over the night hemisphere.
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Kaiser, M., Connerney, J. & Desch, M. Atmospheric storm explanation of saturnian electrostatic discharges. Nature 303, 50–53 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/303050a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/303050a0
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