A survey of electrostatic waves in Saturn's magnetosphere

The Voyager 1 and 2 plasma wave instruments have provided initial observations of electrostatic waves in Saturn's magnetosphere. In general, the emissions at Saturn are similar to those found at earth and Jupiter, although there are significant differences in some of the detailed characteristics. In this paper we present an overview of the various types of electrostatic waves in the Saturnian magnetosphere, including Langmuir waves and electron cyclotron harmonic emissions. We shall summarize the temporal and spectral character, amplitude, and regions of occurrence for the various classes of emissions. These characteristics are compared with those of the terrestrial and Jovian counterparts with the goal of understanding how major differences in the magnetospheric configuration might contribute to the observed differences. Finally, we use the theory of electron cyclotron harmonic emissions to try to gain an insight into the electron distributions and possible wave‐particle interactions in Saturn's magnetosphere.